Our Lives and Trees

The trees are all we know,

the way the leaves collect light and spread veins of green or red

the way sustenance is created inside the body,

the way the roots hold the precious weight of life-

and extend to their sisters.

The trees are going missing,

soon, the air will thin

soon, the land will pale without compost

soon, we will be at the mercy of a past we cannot return to-

and will not repeat again.

The trees are nothing short of home,

Mother Earth, please forgive our genocides,

Her red nails trace gooseflesh and moles

Mother Earth, please understand your humanly childrens' pride-

was too much power to hold.