The Tree's Prayer

Another tree was dropped - what a loss!,

From the axes and plastics that suffocated her bud,

She was the giant one, I heard the powerful thud;

Lamenting and supplicating while she sobbed.

I listened closely and made the notes.

Last night she heaved and saw not the light,

She peered through, but the reflections were none of the stars - she cried!

Erstwhile its beauty beckons even at night;

Planet earth is dying even to mars - she sighed!

The cheerful bees were long gone and said their byes,

The squirrels sore-throated and sneezes with hollowed skins;

The butterflies punctured wings with emissions flaked eyes;

The little ones chopped, those were her kins.

She sent her roots to the sea but met a dead deep;

The thrash has taken over;

The sea was forced to sleep;

The deities were angry at the sea-rover;

She heard the ancestors exclaimed “ O' abomination”

The goddess abode long gone and desecrated:

With plastics, and chemical defecation;

A sanctuary, so consecrated;

'Hear now my supplications', she cried;

We seek a world of freshness and beautiful thoughts,

With lofty glows and some joyous pride,

No plastic wars, No cigarettes buts!

No children cries, No strangled cats,

No fallen trees, No screeching beasts,

No sickly sighs, No looming stats,

Just gentle breeze and subtle feasts.

Just natural kills and ecological peace,

Clearest deeps and happiest skies,

O' calmness to the hills and heavenly bliss;

This is all she seeks before she dies.

Gafar Odubote, “The Tree's Prayer”, copyright 2020