Stony Brook*

Thomas Quitzau

May 25, 2022

          (after Eliot’s Four Quartets)

Stand tall, oh allegiant ones

Are you saluting this half-empty moon?

Stand at attention, young’uns!

Like your elders, stop swaying!

Are you praising the fiery orange sunne*

Sinking near your cousins’ green ankles?

Winter has shown you off, you and all

Your capillaries against the periwinkle dusk

What staunch perches you present!

What countenance you inspirit!

The countless houses your kin have shapen

The boats they’ve boldly buoyed

How many migrants have you timely 

Harbored, clutching creatures in darkness?

Soon, you’ll hardly be noticed, gigantesque

Each of you, home to a billion lichens

*Stony Brook, NY, a hamlet on the north shore of Long Island

*Old English word for sun

Thomas Quitzau is a poet and teacher who grew up in the Gulf Coast region and who worked for over 30 years in Houston, Texas. A survivor of Hurricane Harvey, he recently wrote a book entitled Reality Showers, and currently teaches and lives on Long Island, New York with his wife and children.