Monday, September 14, 2015

Tree lore: 'Why trees are ever standing'




 Hush the swish in your leaves
Tender twig, halt your play
Young trees, slow your sway
Listen to us old wood!

"it wasn't always this cool,
The sun didn't always just shine-
It burned oh! It scorched so!
We withered and wilted and shriveled:
Great Oak and his family cracked
Cedar- all tall and hard-barked,
Bristlecone pine and any other pine
All browned away and dried;
We knelt, lowered our sapped branches
Stretched our weary stalks and just about died.

It was a sad time such-
Cut up and shipped away,
The best of us-
Demeaned and baked into charcoal,
Or lumbered into timber- that vast tomb...
Oh, and cousin Sandal Wood, butchered for perfume!

We lost our graceful poise.
The rains ceased, rivers shrunk
What a season!

Then came along a girl, she of the green heart-
Born of the enemy but turned friend indeed!
Her love green as sap, Her word was her deed.
For every broken twig, she dropped her head
If a tree fell in Karura, she shed
Tears and cried, 'No! 
Desecrate no more!
Our heritage: green beauty of earth!'

The rest is history:
-the rise of the trees, the era of green
Which you, young tree now see-
Bountiful leaves on beautiful boughs,
The earth's safe again,
The state of our nation strong!
This legacy we remember her by
-Wangari wa Maathai-
A girl born of flesh but sprouted green-
Mother of trees!
Forest queen!
Diva in green!
Forever!"
 (As told by a 100 year old Cedar tree in 2092)


6 comments:

  1. Nice poem there! However, where you used cider( An alcoholic drink) I believe it should be cedar (a coniferous tree)

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  2. You should share this at https://www.facebook.com/groups/poetrykenya/.

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  3. Poetry brings about the beauty of words used constructively....love your poem sir

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