Poetry for a Future
The Trees Are Leaving This World
A poem about trees leaving this world and their capacity to transform emotions
The Trees Are Leaving This World
Your bark is rough, your wounds are dark, your leaves are brown and falling.
They say bacteria are eating you.
What’s eating me, you ask.
And I howl to the moon shining through your broken branches.
Soft, reflected light.
Calm, and cool, and wise.
My grief is a knot in my stomach.
My anger is a fierce fire spitting out of my third eye.
My throat is a bottleneck.
Hoarse sounding cracks are there, instead of rational words.
And the tree is waiting patiently.
Put your hands on my dark wounds, you say.
They will devour all.
My tears flow through your roots, into dark, fertile soil.
Cleansed by millions of tiny organisms.
My sorrow will become warm well water in another location.
Quenching the thirst of all.
Where would I be when the last tree has left the world, I wonder.
Who would patiently listen?
This poem is inspired by the fact that the trees are leaving this world. They are either being chopped down for mining and industrial farms, as in the Amazon and Papua. Or they are being eaten by aggressive fungi and beetles.
Apparently they lose their strength. Their immune system. Their life force. There are multiple causes. Not one. But our polluting the soil with mining, loss of biodiversity, and climate change does not help.
Anthropocene is taking its toll.
“Trees in forests are dying at increasingly high rates — especially the bigger, older trees. According to a study appearing today in the journal Science, the death rate is making forests younger, threatening biodiversity, eliminating important plant and animal habitat, and reducing forests’ ability to store excess carbon dioxide generated by our consumption of fossil fuels.”
“Their analysis reveals that from 1900 to 2015, the world lost more than a third of its old-growth forests.”
— National Geographic, May 2020.
Sad. But true.
Humans destroy. The evidence is plenty.
But I see many examples where humans are a force for good. The new economic activities, the regeneration movement, the nature-based solutions are all hot and happening. And that’s what I want to inspire.
We need the trees, if only for our oxygen. But also for our mental wellbeing. We can see the light, change our ways, and become a force for LIFE. All of us. In our own unique roles…
After publication
When I shared this poem on LinkedIn on Juli 17, Mónica Tátá added a reply. She suggested a song by Aurora that would complement my poem well. I watched. And it gave me goosebumps. The setting in the forest… The text…
“We cannot eat money, oh no. When the last trees have fallen and the rivers are poisoned, we cannot eat money, oh no.” Here’s the video.
If you want to connect, you can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or my website. Or somewhere feeling colors, hearing smells, and tasting words. Building up my wisdom…
Thank you, Mike, for adding your wise energy to my words.
