What Once Was Grand
by Jon Eric

A Ceiba tree an office building's height
Is standing near some ruins in Belize
And though its branches reach out in the night
It's just the tallest of a trillion trees
A tourist poses for a photograph
And crinkles up her nose against the smell
Now something out of frame has made her laugh
Tonight, she will return to her hotel
Before long all this progress will be moot
These rooms will fall, and so will everything
The rubble will be strewn among the roots
The ceiba tree will grow another ring
..........So never trust the forward march of man
..........It only tears apart what once was grand