Tags
Ancient Witness, Climate Catastrophe, Dark Irony, Ecological Lament, Enduring Grief, Environmental Destruction, Forest Secrets, Generational Memory, Haunting Imagery, Human Complicity, Human-Nature Divide, Intergenerational Loss, Lost Innocence, Melancholic Reflection, Nature Personified, Nature’s Revenge, Poetic Justice, Sorrow And Resilience, Sustainability Crisis, Unspoken Truths

Beneath my boughs, I’ve stood so long,
A gnarled oak where sorrows throng.
I watched the virgin land decay—
The steel-toothed axes gnaw and flay.
Where violets nodded, children once danced,
Now roots endure the poisons man financed,
I’ve sheltered lovers, outlaws, the forlorn—
Their memory etched through every ring I’ve worn.
I lent the birds my hollow halls,
Heard the last wolf howl where shadow falls.
Then came the fires—men wept, then turned away—
My branches cleaved, the wounded earth left gray.
If I could speak, my words would scorch the air—
“Wanderer, why do you stand and stare?”
In every ring, I cradle joy and slaughter,
My bark holds grief—far thicker than water.
You’d recoil at the truths you’d never confess—
Ghost stories carved deep in my distress.
Not all trespasses hide beneath gentle green,
Dark secrets fester where no eyes have seen.
So confess, if you must—then return to your kind:
The forest keeps mysteries meant to outlive mankind.


