Thursday, August 20, 2009

Harvest or Slaughter?



I saw these photos on the Internet the other day and thought they were a representation of a poem I wrote.


The poem is entitled, “The Cutting Of Nearby Timber.”


A number of years ago I would hike a mountain trail near my country home. I did this same hike for a number of years and watched a particular grove of trees grow bigger and I even seemingly befriended some of the trees as I hiked passed calling them by made-up names. I even watched their seedlings sprout in the nearby loam.


One day as I headed up the mountain the grove was gone, freshly timbered by the owner.



They were not prisoners within their woods.

They lived in peaceful growth on pristine land.

Tight straight they stood in timbered neighborhoods.

To them it was their family grove and stand.


I knew them well and walked among their strength.

I watched the elders die and seedlings grow

To be the stalwart ones of greater length.

Then slaughter came. One lived - one cameo

.

When saws transgress on mountain slope incline.

The needs of man could not yet understand

These are a sentient species and benign -

Who could not stop the cut with countermand.


There is a sadness now upon this spot

Soft tawny dust dries out the scent and loam

Where shade once cooled to stop the late day hot.

Man oft' forgets the sanctity of home!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that ?The People" are about having enough. This April my husband and I went down the City Hall at 7:00 PM in the middle of the week to check out the "NYC Tea Party". We thought maybe a 100 people would show up. Were we surprised! 12,000 people showed up that night in NYC. The most Liberal City of the Union. More to our surprise was the diverse group of people we met. A Chines immigrant and his daughter, a couple from Conn., Democrats, Some Viet Namm Vets, Republicans from NJ, black, Asian, Hispanic and white, but mainly we met folks; nice folks, families, friends, young and old. We met Americans all of them. Americans concerned about what's happening. Americans concerned about the speed in which it is happening. Americans concerned for their country. Americans many of them who had never been to a demonstration in their lives. Imagine, Americans coming together in NYC in the middle of the week concerned about their country. There was not one disturbing incident, not one. If there was a right winged extremist there we didn't meet them. If there was a racist there, we didn't meet them. Why, one ponders was their barely a mention about it on the media. Why, one wonders is the media labeling Americans across the country as extremists? If 12,000 people could gather together in New York City, one of the biggest toughest cities in the world, I doubt there are right winged extremists creating havoc acorss the country. I am sure they are concerned Americans. Where is our media. Who would believe I, a life long progressive would be watching Fox News to try to find out what's happening? I think we must have fallen through the looking glass. Either that or the Pole Shift has occurred. Concerned and Confused American

 
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