The Beech at Coole

8/18/1974

Pious tourists prowl around this caged, burnished tree 

Too nearsighted to make out the mystically incised 

initials of the Lady’s famous friends. 

Barbed wire encloses the upper perimeter 

dissuading the higher hooligan from ascending 

to fame as quick as a penknife 

while the stunning tree says the last word—

slowly annealing away AE / GBS / even WBY. 

Arboreal oblivion casting a cold eye on vandals' vainglory.