TREES | NATURE | ENVIRONMENT

The Murder Of Trees

Is killing a tree the only answer?

Trees growing out of the root of a fallen tree Photo by Alexander David on Unsplash

Two old trees Grew close together And whispered secrets The livelong day. They spoke of the birds Who made them their home They talked of the breeze That chattered through their leaves The night-flying owl The day-singing lark At times, a bat, or two Found refuge in them.

‘Do you remember?’ They asked each other On warm noon-day siestas And cold night-time naps.

And then, some men decided the trees would have to go to make room for man’s marauding appetitites.

They brought in the machines The murder unfolded All day, and all night They chopped and they slashed The trees winced and shuddered They bled and they sank To the Earth Mother that had birthed them Now, an alien scene of crime!

But the roots clung together wouldn’t let each other go They keened and they moaned with each brutal blow The surrounding trees Reached out to help Their roots stretched forth Holding the ravaged trees’.

The men could not remove every trace of the roots The more they hacked The more they held fast At last they gave up Made long faces, swore and raged, Then wrote lengthy reports About unstable ground And unsuitable foundations That might destroy any structure Built over it.

The tree roots were left alone In their plundered pain They shuddered, lay still… The other trees wept, but cheered That life still existed.

Rain fell spring sprang Summer sang her forever tunes And the roots of the two trees Were covered with trembling leaves As life grew out of near-death a celebration of life A victory over death slowly but surely, They grew and they grew Phoenix-like, Immortal.

ⓒ 2026 Suma Narayan. All Rights Reserved.