Change Comes At The Chopping of the Tree
This is a poem I finished the week after Earth Day last year. It has themes of nature in it and I still consider it an Earth Day poem even if I was too busy then to finish it on time. It’s a poem reflecting on the chopping of a tree so that new life can grow from the freed space. Originally posted in April 2023.
Change Comes At The Chopping Of The Tree
By: A.X. Bueno
There was an infection that ran through this tree
A fungus that’s been killing it and with every year it’d creep back slowly
This tree had been so fruitful once but circumstances made that history
Because for a few years now it hasn’t been able to produce fruit like it once did
With anything that grows from it recently being inedible and the tree looking slightly blistery
It’s sad, remembering the summer it produced many peaches but now is just acrid
The fruit it tries to grow now that is
Multiple attempts using several different ways but each one fails and misses
So after months of indecision and taking care of other business it’s finally coming down The flowers just starting blooming on it too which is a shame
But with it gone there’ll be more space in the now unoccupied ground
Still there’s the question of if this is a necessary act, one of mercy
If trees could talk would this one say to put it out of its misery
Or would it asked to be spared despite its inability to grow fruit and fungal condition
And then be sad that it knows no human will actually be able to listen
It’s not like the tree will ever give an answer on what’s best to do
So after so much procrastinating you can only do what you think is best for it and you
With saw and stepping stool you get to cutting branch after branch
You do your best as you cut through not to breathe in the consequent sawdust avalanche
Some branches are thicker than others and some also having blossoming flowers
Plus a green hue of remaining life that flows through some leaving a bit of a taste sour
But the peaches that would have tried growing would have been inedible and even more Plus the branches and parts of the tree that are tougher and deader so you feel less dour
It takes a while but eventually all the big branches come down
Till what’s left is a bare piece of trunk in the ground
That can come out another time as you arrange the branches to handle them later
You’ll use those for things like firewood and mulch so in a way it’s still helping you here
For the tree provided you with a lovely sight and fruit when it looked and was greater
But of course it wasn’t immune to disease or the ravages of time that has been clear
It’s loss inevitable but it provided plenty and you’ll miss it so
But there’s new opportunities to plant and use it’s branches so there’s not much to woe
Now there’s plenty of changes you can make to that fresh new space
Planting season upon us there’s so much that can grow now in the tree’s former place
But that can come later because for now the toughest work is done
Finally handling that tree and the rest of the work can wait for the season’s just begun