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Gieve Patel's On Killing a Tree

created Mar 14th, 17:10 by bookseyG


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175 words
3 completed
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On Killing a Tree, A Poem by Gieve Patel                                                                                                         
 
It takes much time to kill a tree,
 
Not a simple jab of the knife
 
Will do it. It has grown
 
Slowly consuming the earth,
 
Rising out of it, feeding
 
Upon its crust, absorbing
 
Years of sunlight, air, water,
 
And out of its leperous hide
 
Sprouting leaves.  
 
  
 
So hack and chop
 
But this alone wont do it.
 
Not so much pain will do it.
 
The bleeding bark will heal
 
And from close to the ground
 
Will rise curled green twigs,
 
Miniature boughs
 
Which if unchecked will expand again
 
To former size.  
 
  
 
No,
 
The root is to be pulled out
 
Out of the anchoring earth;
 
It is to be roped, tied,
 
And pulled out snapped out
 
Or pulled out entirely,
 
Out from the earth-cave,
 
And the strength of the tree exposed
 
The source, white and wet,
 
The most sensitive, hidden
 
For years inside the earth.  
 
  
 
Then the matter
 
Of scorching and choking
 
In sun and air,
 
Browning, hardening,
 
Twisting, withering,
 
And then it is done.

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