Glacier

A glacier carves the land,
diverting the paths of rivers,
moving silt from its place of origin.
Mountains stand in sharper relief
than before.
Lakes are left to fill valleys
that weren't there.
New vegetation grows. New animals come
to haunt that vegetation,
and all that is new is beautiful,
and all that is gone is dead,
and the bones of the dead lie in the mountains
and under the silt.
Though the glacier recedes,
the land is changed and cannot revert;
it can be changed again, but the change
cannot be undone,
and all that is gone is dead.
And ten years have passed since you closed your door,
and death still lives in the bones of the mountain.