At 8am, I awoke to the sound of saws
I knew it was coming
But I wasn't prepared
For the falling branches
Sawdust spinning
Then the squeal of despair

I didn't expect the tears I found
When that great tree hit the ground
Or the horrible silence
It left behind
So majestic and proud
It had stood for so long
Sheltering my house
With its shade and its song

Long ago it was spared
The buildings erected around
But for only a short breath
In the ancient span of a tree
For soon it would grow too close
Breaking foundations deep underground
Nothing to do but cut the tree down

It had been here before us
This place was its home
We captured its soul
Made it our own
Asked it to love us
Then ripped it all down
With angry red saws
And heart rending sounds

I knew it was coming
I had told it goodbye
Watched my cat 'neath its branches
Knowing soon it would die
After all it was only a tree
It shouldn't matter to me

But then it screamed
The earth shook with it's crash
And I felt the tree die
Splitting the air
With it's fear and its rage
Not knowing its sin
Surprised and betrayed

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The tears came
As the cutters laughed and cheered
Filling the new space
With their insensitive jeers
They did not feel it
They'd become numb long ago

So I carried in branches
For my altar to hold
And knelt down before
The remains of my friend
Silently wondering
If a tree has a soul

If the answer is no
Then why did it scream
Why did I feel it's heart ache
And now feel the vast emptiness
Where a tree used to be?

I wish I'd had the power to save it
To tell them, "No!"
Let this building crumble
Leave the tree be
But it wasn't my decision
So the tree is gone now
Living only in my heart
My memory

With the seeds of this tree
So few and small
Perhaps new life can begin
To someday spread out its leaves
And feel the wind anew
Push its roots deep down
Stretch up tall to the sky
An echo of the tree that died
Lost in the swirl of sawdust and time

I felt the death of a tree today
A beautiful, glorious
Majestically ancient
Tree

No longer singing it's song
In the wind and the rain
Let it stand forever
Within my soul
Magnificent, powerful, strong.

-Darshann 3/8/00