The withering willow

Promising such abandon;

Lotus in a lake on its own island by the fossil fuel factory

As the branches droop like the hair of a rag doll..

Salix-alba; the once sweeping canopy; salicin in the white willow trunks;

the winds blow gently, the branches billow.

Mother always said,

“Leave your weeping to

The island of the weeping willow;

Put the gloom in the glass bottle to

Float away at sea.”