My babies were all safely tucked
in their little bud-beds,
when that sultry Chinook wind
fueled by human greed and ignorance
blew through and lured them
to awaken too soon.
I tried to warn them,
but buds will grow
the way they want to grow.
They rarely listen to Mother Tree.
When the sap rises,
they're off and away.
And so they opened,
and my heart wept,
my tears joining the freezing
rain and sleet that followed.
The hardy ones may recover
and complete their cycle.
But so many little blooms were lost,
along with the fruit they would have been,
along with the disappearing bees
and salmon, and whales,
and coral reefs and plankton,
all gasping in humanity's
last choking dance of despair.
It isn't easy,
being a Mother Tree,
in a world grown perilous
for things that grow.
for Magaly's cool prompt at Real Toads: to speak with the voice of a grieving tree whose buds have been damaged by climate change.
The Mother Tree sings a sad lament and no one is listening it seems.
ReplyDeleteI visited the tree today (the one in the photo) and some of the buds are still holding on. I sang to the buds, asked them to stay strong, cried a little (and people stared at me, since the tree is in the hospital's courtyard). So the beginning of your second stanza pulled a smile out of me--I know the hardy ones will bloom and grow to fruit... and we'll help them. Mother Tree shouldn't have to weep this much. Ever.
ReplyDeleteOne can read this on so many levels, Sherry. Very well done.
ReplyDeleteSo very true Sherry. Wise and beautiful!
ReplyDeleteVery well done. I love the determination of the mother.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is getting harder and harder to be a mother tree.
ReplyDeleteand we've cut down all the oldest, with their wisdom and deep roots, too.
ReplyDeletedamn humans ~
Ooh, I liked reading this, Sherry. It isn't easy being a mother or doing the mother's role. I am glad that you mentioned the dissappearing bees. A few years ago our good (??) senator "C" HELPED defeat an appropriation bill to fund finding out why they were dying off.
ReplyDeleteOh Sherry this one truly touched my heart.. sigh soo beautifully written.
ReplyDeleteit is this that truly saddens me. i am gravely disappointed in the human that cares little for each other but i mostly grieve when they, humans, carelessly disrupt the Earth's abode and fell its tiny fingers where much wisdom is stored for future life. Gracias mi amiga, for your attention to this
ReplyDeleteYou caught that motherly voice perfectly – which makes the lament all the more telling.
ReplyDeleteThis is perfect, Sherry.
ReplyDeleteA world that's perilous for things that grow... even more perilous is the things that we allow to grow... the tone of a mourning mother is great.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Sherry,
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Oh, just so sad, Sherry--agree with all the comments. You write with wonderful conviction. Hope all well. k.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to go out and hug the trees in my neighborhood. Some of the blossoms look like they'll make it, thankfully. But how much more of this lunacy in weather can they take before they can't.
ReplyDeleteI feel that grief. So we'll expressed. Beautiful in its sadness.
ReplyDeleteIt is a perilous world, for all that lives. xoxoxo
ReplyDelete