"Pledge": Gretchen Diemer

"Pledge" by Gretchen Diemer

"Here is the flag I can
salute, hand
on my heart, I

pledge to honor the great branch
of aspen, leaves beating
in the September wind, to hold dear

twisted limbs and white
bark, the red and yellow

leaves suspended above the water and
silt of the Matanuska, of any
meandering river, I

pledge to honor the bear, the harmful
and harmless, the ravens
circling the spawned out salmon beds, I

pledge to scatter the fallen leaves
as if they were the ashes

of soldiers cremated and
tossed about by an arbitrary wind."