Once there was a broad forest.
Once there was a deep field
With horses and barbed wire.
The grave of a fallen house now just
Depression abandoned by settlers.
Lilacs bloomed to mark the outhouse.
Twice developers raised their boards,
Twice proposed a land use action.
The land wore placards like yellow stars
Announcing their impending ruin.
The field became a warehouse complex.
Subdivision razed the woods.
Quail no longer strut the rooftops.
The secret bog full of frogs is silenced.
Kristina Stapleton is a member of Tacoma Friends Meeting (NPYM). She currently worships with Salmon Bay Friends, near her home in Edmonds, WA.