Picture:
A hundred and fifty years ago
Grizzly bear fished
Salmon swelled streams
Under the shade of
Towering giants that had
Survived for thousands of years.

A hundred years ago
The menacing bear
Exterminated
Redwoods sawed and chopped and burned
After all,
mortar is needed in San Francisco.
The salmon
No longer feeling at home
Swam away forever.

Of course,
An informational marker has been erected
To historify the triumphant conquerors
Who tamed this wild land
In my Great-great-grandfather's day.
But the trees still dream
And remember
How it once was.