The World Tree - IX. Requiem

Gone, all gone —

How I grieve for its loss;

A piece of my soul was cut down with it.

Here was beauty, shelter, and peace.

Felled, all felled —

The Gap is empty now

You survived the wind that howls through the notch,

Brought down by the chainsaw’s blade.

Lost, friend, lost —

Beyond belief, beyond words

Tree, I see the ghost of you

Your felling is felt like a form of grief

Cut, now, cut —

Beyond the shock lies guilt.

It was the closest we had to a sacred tree;

All butchered and alone

Wrecked, now, wrecked —

Bone-white timber, a fallen giant;

The great dome of its branches

As if a green cloud hovered there.

Dead, now, dead —

An element of permanence is gone;

You transcended our short lives;

You stood through storm and shine.

Why, oh, why? —

The senselessness and sheer spite of it;

For every tree lover, there is a tree hater;

A culture is no better than its woods.

Now, what now? —

There is no hope; there is still hope.

We must be good ancestors.

We must still praise this wounded world ––

But when the dreamer’s body has gone,

Can the dreaming live on?

A forest must rise for the loss of a tree,

A forest must rise for the loss of a tree.

“It was just a tree…”