Eyewitness

The tree
never had a chance
Or an option
The wind and times decay
Weakend the limb
That sway as we rounded corner
Walking away from crackle and crash
On King Drive
across 75th street from

Where a victim with no chance
or option
Met assailants from the shadows,
Weeks before, village roots weakened,
Cut down a branch
under the crackle
Of thunder, lightning, and steel