The Tree

From the:
Fragments of a Soul [Compilation]

Copyright © April 2007 Arnel Oroceo, an Official Entry to the Carlos Palanca Memorial Foundation for Literature All Rights Reserved by the Carlos Palanca Memorial Foundation

A bird flew by with a seed on its beak,

It lighted upon a tree near a creek,

But as it prepared for its next flight,

The seed slipped off and fell from quite a height!

What an impact! It almost cracked apart!

As it hit a big, moss-covered rock,

Down it rolled over pebbles and mud,

It fell on mire with a roughed, bruised pod.

Then heavy rains poured over the mountain,

Flooding every stream, river and gulley,

Raging water rushed down violently,

Eroding the soil and stones along the riverbank.

Poor seed! The rushing water brought it along!

It went crashing on twigs, rocks and gravel,

It met an almost endless rolling, falling and hard bumps,

Until the fractured pod finally rested on water-soaked sod.

For seasons, the roughed seed lie dormant,

Several feet under damped soil,

Until moisture permeated through the nicks and scratches

It had sustained from its downhill trip.

Soon the seed began to germinate,

Slowly tiny sprouts came out of its hard shells,

In no time, the tiny sprouts turned into leaves,

All eager to grow into a tree.

Its stems had grown into branches,

Bark covered its soft body,

The once tiny sprout, now soared majestically,

A giant tree that almost touched the sky!

The tree stood with great pride;

No storm could bring it down;

It was a huge refuge at the middle of the forest;

A natural pillar of protection.

Then on one tragic summer day,

A group of men went up the mountain,

With axes and saw, they desecrated the woodland!

They cut down the defenseless tree ruthlessly.

Once it stood in majesty,

Now it had fallen down, lifeless;

Heartless men cut off its branches one by one,

And were taken down to a lumberyard.

The wood was used to build a house,

Some to support a shaky bridge,

Was it a noble sacrifice?

Does it serve a purpose?

It was a hard fought fight for the seed,

It was a brave and gallant stand,

The tree that once stood in majesty succumbed to greed,

At least, it met a human need.