Yesterday, whilst walking to school,
My daughter said,
“But why do we have to use newspaper instead
Of wrapping paper like everyone else?”
“To save our beautiful trees,” I replied
“But trees are plentiful”, she sighed
“Look over there.. and there.. and there.
Trees are everywhere!”
“Yes,” I smiled
“But I wish you could see
The difference between sparse, urban trees,
And towering giants
Thickly cloaking forests
In majesty.”
I wonder if,
Growing up in a disposable, plastic age,
She can ever understand or appreciate
The profundity, beauty,
Essentiality
Of an ancient tree
A tree that lifts your gaze so high,
You feel your soul touch the sky,
A tree that has breathed
Divine glory and mercy
For centuries
My child has never embraced
An old tree with friends,
Four pairs of arms that extend
Round a trunk so enormous, rooted and tall
They catch their breath in awe
She has never sat quietly
On wet moss ‘neath a forest canopy
Inhaling fresh, woody incense,
In deep, dewy, stillness
Or stood on an alpine ridge
Above pines piercing the mist
Sheer, pristine,
Ethereal,
Only to turn to her right
To find
Decimation,
Black and utter desolation
Forests burnt, clear-cut,
All life reduced
To barren dust
And so,
I worry…
Will she ever see,
How her choices daily,
Impact
This dark dichotomy?
Fatema Valji | @poetryfv
