The Secret Life of Trees

We breathe out; they breathe in.
They breathe out; we breathe in.
They give, we take.
Then we take some more.
A mutual bond that we are slowly breaking.

Crushed by the weight of millennia,
Their black-gold fuelled the warmth of man;
Fuelled the wealth of mankind –
Fuelled the greedy mouths of industrial giants.
Now their earthbound power is no more.

The scales of our greed weigh heavy, the balance is tipping.
The fulcrum of life is beyond the point of no return.
Majestic, proud, graceful;
Gnarled and knotted, with eons of stories to tell.
Guardians of secrets; protectors of life.

They dress and undress with natural abandon,
Naked and exposed, branches shiver through winter,
Waiting for the day to be cloaked in green.
They pay homage to the seasons swathed in autumn fire.
And weep tears of gold for mankind.