None.
Unless sequoia.
Sequoia and
all their arboreal siblings and
all their cousins and
all their distant relatives but
especially sequoia,
majestic by any measure,
expecting nothing,
hoping nothing,
fearing nothing,
not insentient,
merely indifferent
to our presence
or our absence,
firmly rooted in the earth,
with a sense serene of sky,
lingering longer in their allotted time,
sequestered in their microclimate,
resistant for awhile to The Fire,
last to leave—
sequoia,
if only for a moment,
may survive and,
by that gesture alone,
judge us.
—
Following service in the Peace Corps in India, Douglas Twells completed his MA in South Asian languages and civilizations at the University of Chicago. He later returned to India for further study in Sanskrit and Hindi at Benares Hindu University. Retired from a career in university administration, Twells continues to write poetry and study ancient Indian literature. He lives with his wife in St. Louis.
