Trails which once flowed
with the footfalls
of soft-soled moccasins
are quiet now,
save for the low rumble
of logging truck
or occasional hiker
cutting through.
But if you look
carefully the signs
are still visible, etched
into a forest
fast disappearing.
Old US Army maps,
should you happen to find
one, will detail
an ancient landscape
dotted with towns
and villages
now erased
or abandoned,
their foreign yet
familiar place-names
which still somehow
rattle around
my tongue.
