ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Another in my series of tall Timber poems.

TALL FORESTS AND WEEPING GIANTS ... Maureen Clifford © The #ScribblyBark Poet


What will the children say when told the forests went away?
And what will the children think when told forests are on the brink
of mass destruction by a few who gave no thought to how they grew
and gave no care to what was lost, and cared still less about the cost?

The world can't live without its trees and their loss causes misery
to birds and animals that roam throughout the forests they call home.
The trees are the world's lungs - they breath, and beautify. Can you believe
that others fail to grasp that concept? Really? Are they idiots

Who decimate, and log and burn and poor old Mother Nature spurn?
A tree that's grown one hundred years - one minute tall then disappears,
for what? The paper industry? Or is it wood chip soon you'll see?
Where's the sustainability? Logging just don't sit well with me.

In years to come when all has gone and old trees are a rarity
I visualize a little child sitting upon his Grandpa's knee
and asking - "Grandpa tell me why your generation let them die?
Was it because you failed to speak or was it that your voice was weak?

Didn't you care about the world and all the animals it held?
Surely you didn't think it right to burn and clear all trees in sight?
The forests were the possums home, where kangaroos and wombats roam.
Koalas lived up in the trees - Grandpa did you not think of these?

I do not understand at all - I'd love to see trees that were tall
enough to paint the sky and clouds. I never will - they're all gone now."
And down his face a lone tear coursed - his fingers touched the book he'd sourced
to read about the mighty trees , eliminated by mans greed.

This one Tall Forests and Sleeping Giants was the first in the series and was taken up by ABC and distributed to a few other radio stations including this one in Canada - http://canadapodcasts.ca/podcasts/Hindsight/3820481

I was lucky to have 2 beaut gentlemen perform it on my behalf and I reckon they did a beaut job..

Nice work, Maureen.

I have a renewed love of trees and forests since moving away from the city. A lovely poem.

It is shameful Maureen. At least here in Australia we do have a national forest policy signed by the federal and all state governments that governs the management of all public and private forest areas. Lovely poem and congrats for having it chosen by the ABC for further distribution.
Wazza

Thank you Allan - glad you are a bit of a 'tree hugger' as well

Thanks Wazza - it's always nice when you get some work out there - I didn't realize until this morning that it had made it to Canada - that was a bit of a bonus.

Congratulations Maureen, it is so rewarding to find that a poem we've written has appeared overseas as well, and this is a well deserved selection highlighting an ever increasing and vital issue. What would any of us do without those beautiful trees?!

Thanks Catherine - poetry is meant to be shared so it delights me when they pop up in unexpected places