Estrangement

Suddenly it all explodes.
Years of dynamite left dormant in
a seam of canyon somewhere west of here,
blowing up bundle by bundle until
the whole formation, built on years
as much as rock, collapses into naught.
You gave them a chance to respond,
to bridge the gap the canyon forged.
Silence was their reply,
and so the switch at last was thrown,
reducing that relationship
to rubble in the noonday sun.