The Tree- Poem by Arathi Menon

The Tree
Visit eXpressions
Aeons ago, I emerged
Stretched myself to the world
Clutched on, with my fragile roots
As I felt the whiteness melt away
Then, I remember, the young Earth
My mother, and I the infant sap

I embraced the amiable breeze
And basked in the glory of the radiant
Wondered how, with eloquent ease
Flowed the water, with its clear grace
Nourished my roots, and strengthened

If I had eyes, I would have seen
How, emerged forms of life
Of various sorts, of various sizes
And many others of my kind
Holding fast and breathing out
Sustaining life

The breeze would tell me
All what he saw
The tales of east and lore of west

And yes, about the creature best
Set him apart from all the beasts

The species, destined to conquer the world
Though fragile, is gifted
But alas, their greed and thoughtlessness
And some sadist fancy induced the kind
To turn against their kith and kin
Do what they themselves call ‘sin’

The breeze himself, of chemical woe
Blurted out the terrible truth
Of how they turned out a foe
To us, who fed them, sheltered them
And from us, made a home

I hear the mourns of birds and beasts
And for our kind, a massacre
To build themselves
They say , a home
Of concrete and of stone

My kind, felled, one by one
Gasped through the grip of death

That with a sharp, gleaming axe
Piercing a slow, painful end

I see that nightmare, but still, hold on
And hope, a day, that they would see
And then, would come back to me
And I will keep waiting, day and night

With my wooden arms stretched wide.