We stand, singly or in groups,
quiet but for when wind stirs us;
ask nothing but that you breathe.
We give shade to all but clouds,
sip from aquifers and riverbeds,
dialogue with fungi mat friends.
We offer shelter to the feathered,
furred, clawed, mirror-ball-eyed
insects, reptiles; to share space.
Let me repeat, we ask nothing
from you but that you breathe.
Why, in what arrogant reckoning,
do you chainsaw us, say it’s OK?
You clear-cut and bulldoze us
with our ecosystems and quote
“holy scriptures” about your right
as divinely appointed stewards.
Is that what you call what you do?
Shame on you.
Let us amend, we ask one more
thing: let us be.
top image taken by me at Lake Bluff Farms in Manistee, Michigan in 0722
*The Lorax is a book written by Dr. Seuss, where The Lorax “speaks for the trees.”
Bjӧrn is today’s host at dVerse’ Meet The Bar. Bjӧrn says:
So today I would like you to explore your collective, think about who are “in,” and who are “out,” and try your best to set your thoughts into a voice of that collective.
Tao Talk 
Oh.. you and Grace went with a similar perspective… maybe some day they will come out from the woods and crush us like the ents did.
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Indeed.
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I love that you wrote this poem with The Lorax in mind, Lisa, and the way you describe the tree communities as ‘quiet but for when wind stirs us’ and giving ‘shade to all but clouds, and having ‘dialogue with fungi mat friends’. Trees are so magnanimous; they don’t deserve the way humans treat them.
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No, they don’t, Kim. They give us life and ask for nothing in return except to keep breathing and to just let them be. Why is that so difficult for humans? Thank you for reading and your feedback.
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I love that you’re taking on the voice of the trees. Very very well done!
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Thank you, Lillian. It’s only us humans who think we are at the top of the heap. The planet can live on without humans, but not without trees. Like Bjorn said, one day they may be forced to demonstrate it to us :(
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The Lorax was the only Dr Seuss I had. As a child I thought how sensible it was. Has that one been banned yet?
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Yes it has, and way before now, I just learned. Do some googling and you’ll see a lot of references to its and other Seuss books being banned. Question: do you think that book had an influence on your view of nature as a kid?
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Possibly not. I asked for it because I already had an awareness of things going wrong. I knew streams weren’t supposed to run blue or red, and I knew it was industrial pollution.
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I remember always being under the shade of big oak trees, both at home and at my grandparents’ house. They became protective friends of a sort. As I got older and saw how people were cutting these giants down on a whim, I knew something wasn’t right with the world of humans (along with many other things humans did.)
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There were no forests or even old woods where I was brought up. The Industrial Revolution and sheep grazing had seen to that. The dye from the few mills still functioning that ran into the watercourses, and the slag heaps from the disused mine were still visible though
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:( I’m glad you are away from that virtual (literal?) hell now.
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I think the over-use of pesticides was as bad for the environment as the obvious scars of the industrial revolution. The English landscape is a wreck now.
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A collective that could save our very lives but in the name of Capitalism forests are destroyed. Humans have no sense.
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Exactly so, Petru :(
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This is splendid writing, Lisa! I especially resonate with; “You clear-cut and bulldoze us with our ecosystems and quote “holy scriptures” about your right as divinely appointed stewards. Is that what you call what you do?” ❤️❤️
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Thank you, Sanaa. The walk is so very different than the talk :(
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Oh, I love this perspective from the trees, Lisa! Wonderful!
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Thank you, Merril. I know you’re a nature lover and feel concern when trees are harmed.
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You’re welcome, Lisa. 💙
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The dryads will repopulate the Earth! I love this, Lisa—your perspective from the trees. I think they communicate with each other through their roots. Scientists know plants do this. Why not trees?
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<3
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I love what you did with this prompt. It is a great statement in support of trees.
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Dwight, you know how you have to get a building permit before doing anything to your property? I think there needs to be an ordinance and a permit to do anything to a tree, where if a sound case can be made to cut a tree down, the cost of the permit goes to planting 5 trees to replace every tree that is taken. Also, when a tree reaches a certain dimension (varying by the species) it becomes off limits to touching. It’s a reasonable plan and I think it would work IF people in all levels of government recognize the value of trees.
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Here it is my understanding that developers have to replant a number of trees to compensate for the ones they clearcut to build houses. But they just plant little short scrubby bushes and rows of little green decorative pines on the bank along the edge of the neighborhood.
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UGH! Of course there are no staff that follow through and make sure they do it right.
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Let us be…all we are all asking. But the trees have no defense from human destruction. Well said. (K)
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I know :( That’s why we need tree protection ordinances that are enforced. The thing about it is the tree has to be harmed to put enforcement into action, and by then it is too late. I commented to Dwight what I’d like to see happen.
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New construction should not just be allowed to cut down all the trees, that’s for sure. I remember the Leavitt development we lived in for a couple years when I was a child just flattened the land and started putting up its cookie cutter houses. It was very stark. Used to be, you built around the big trees. OK, that was a very long time ago. But we need to return to that orientation.
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YES.
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While I’m not a tree hugger, I do enjoy trees. We have plenty of them around our house and they really help shape the character of the property. I won’t deny it can also be a mixed blessing. Every time we have strong wind, I feel uneasy. Given their size, if one of these trees or a large branch would fall and hit the house, it could get pretty ugly.
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That’s why we pay a fortune for house insurance. You just made me think of something. As many humans that have harmed trees, I wonder if they get nervous whenever they see us, like we do when strong winds come…
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p.s. I’m glad you have plenty of your “external lungs” around your house :)
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I love the voice of the tree specially with:
Let us amend, we ask one more
thing: let us be.
Happy that we shared the same message!
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<3 Grace <3
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Such a moving and Hard hitting poem Li. Bravo 👏🏼
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Thank you, Sadje <3
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You’re most welcome my friend
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That is great Lisa!
I’m glad you listed the Lorax…because I always seem to do with your tree poems.
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The Lorax and trees walk hand in hand :)
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We were to cultivate the land, not destroy it. People get most everything wrong.😔
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“Let me repeat, we ask nothing
from you but that you breathe.”
well said on behalf of the trees Lisa – they breathe so we can breathe and vice versa. Now there there is a climate madness around their existence – the complete opposite of Gaia
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Laura, I really think trees need human advocates on a personal level. People who will fight for them with everything they have. For 25 years I protected several really large oak trees on my 2 lots in the city. It still pains me to drive by there now as the first thing each of the buyers of the lots did after purchase was cut the trees down.
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‘Let us be’ something many humans have failed to understand. Sigh.., you have spoken for the collective trees.
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<3
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Lovely perspective from trees, Lisa. I also thought of Shel Silverstein’s book, The Giving Tree. It’s sad to see the many ash trees dying here because of ash borer…we must keep planting trees!
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So sorry about your ash trees. They are under attack from all directions :(
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I cannot tell you just how much I love this, Lisa. Wonderfully written.
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:::blushing::: Thanks, Dear Dale.
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You look so lovely in pink ;-)
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<3
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💞
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loving the perspective from which this comes
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Rog, thanks much.
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Shame heaped upon shame. Bend is being stripped of so many huge pines I can barely stand it … I understand our need for affordable house but so often we take more than we need to take. Your collective poem is ‘awesome.’
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Helen, sorry to hear your wonderful part of the country isn’t being spared :(
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I love I love I love we trees
and shun the chainsaw transects
but the line that caught me on the hop’s
the mirror-ball-eyed insects
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:) Wonderful comment-poem, Someone.
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I love this poem. Just love it! We need to speak to trees and speak for them. Wonderful!!!
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Thank you and you’re right.
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Enjoyed so much the collective voice you chose, Lisa, and the phrasings, like “mirror-ball-eyed/insects, reptiles,” reflecting as it were our crimes. The poem reminded me of Shyamalan’s “The Happening”–
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Dora, I love what you see in the poem with the mirror eyes. Haven’t seen The Happening but sounds like maybe I should?
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I think you would like it because it’s Nature finally speaking out against Humanity in a catastrophic way, saying “Enough is enough!” — almost literally.
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I Love the that The Lorax is in there, I also love the voice of this poem, a plea to humanity to address the wrongs and work with the trees who are a true WE.
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Paul, so glad the poem resonated with you. It’s the only way I see us getting through this thing.
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Yes, so agree Lisa, the only way forward.
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