Today We Celebrate Christopher Columbus
Copyright 2004 Stan Lyness
whose salesmanship in court and bed,
whose heroism, whose villainy led,
eventually, to our being here,
so we may see, this time of year,
these North American forests sport
the splendor of the Spanish court:
Catskills flying Castille's amber
and vermillion standard,
Isabella's frills and gown
emblazing Berkshire hill and town;
Maple are oranges of Seville,
oak and hickory, spattered still
from scarlet blood of Conquest
and imagined gold that launched it;
Ash and walnut wear the distant ochre of Madrid,
birch the saffron tint of this canary legal pad
named for the color
named for the bird
named for the islands Columbus stopped by
named for the dogs who lived there, who
for all we know were yellow too.
