<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><span style="font-size: 22px;">At the end of the summer</span><div style="font-size: 22px;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">At the end of the summer</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">my daughter came home</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">with her fellow camp counselors—</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">nine all told,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">nine countries,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">for showers</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">and meals—</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">puppies nearly grown.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I retreated to my desk—</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">a dharma talk on Zoom: </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Iceland, the funeral </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">for the Okjökull glacier. </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The plaque read,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">“…we know what is happening</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">and what needs to be done.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Only you know if we did it.”</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">At 5:00 this morning</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">the whole crew</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">flew off to Hawaii— </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">despite Hurricane Lala</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">waiting for them.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In grade school</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">we learned to duck and cover,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">to get under our desks </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">while the air raid sirens </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">blared and blared.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Our kids </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">hear their own siren—</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">and yet they go.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Three thousand years ago</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">under the ice</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">a birch forest </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">flourished. </span></div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Lewis Buchner</span></div></body></html>