AMAZON DRIFT

Once
rain was welcome here
falling through a verdant canopy
that was an aerial highway

For the teeming life
that tangled the air
with shrieks and howls
and padded footfalls.

Once the forest
was a fecund cradle
of life and diversity,

Of familial allegiances
and purposeful play,
of strange alliances
and colorful camouflages.

That was before
the forest was felled
and the smoke of fires
blackened the once green sky.

Then dry land became sand
drifting in unobstructed wind
humping into dunes and desert,

Leaving the Amazon
bleached of color
and its raucous calls
forever silenced.

Except perhaps at night
when the sand cools,
and memories wander the dunes
shuffling through pieces of dreams
puzzling over the scent of loss.