The Forest Vocal even in
Its Somber Tread – Rages²
The old Cherry Trees Dream of Past
Centuries – Tortured by Fearful Visions³
Riven Deep by the sharp tongues of Axes⁴
I see Death in the Bare Trees – a Deprivation⁵
The Trees ponder our Strange doings … if our
Resolve & Prayers are Weak & Fail there’ll be
Nothing left of their Slow & Innocent Wisdom⁶
There are Wastes of Stump & Bramble
Where once there were Singing Groves⁷
Impress the Forest: bid the Tree
To Unfix his Earth-Bound Root⁸
Whole Forests are Downed as
Timber for the King’s Palace⁹
Extinct: what is a Tree?¹⁰
¹ Paul Celan tr. Ian Fairley, A Leaf
² Jennifer Chang, Obedience, or the Lying Tale
³ Anton Chekhov tr. Constance Garnett, The Cherry Orchard
⁴ Walt Whitman, Song of the Redwood Tree
⁵ Sylvia Plath, Three Women
⁶ Denise Levertov, Gathered at the River
⁷ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers
⁸ William Shakespeare, Macbeth
⁹ Susan Griffin, Native to California
¹⁰ Penny Boxall, Conservation Status