Viewing an Old Tree
Upon a hill I saw a tree
with snow and green garbed perfectly;
perfect in its height and span,
hitherto unseen by man -
offended by no mortal blade,
from whose wood no lumber made -
a tree as from the older times
from gentler days and gentler climes,
when his tribe filled the surrounding
mountains with his kin abounding:
men worshipped at this woodland chapel
oak and laurel, birch and apple...
awestruck by this proliferation
dense forests strung across the nation;
but in an age when we kill all gods,
this tree, I wonder what the odds
that it will live on and evade
the holocaust and clear-cut blade?
And as we creep along the brink
of empty hearts... Nature extinct!
6 comments:
This meditation was veined with richness in its lilt, and yet with a quiet sadness. No hostility...merely calm acceptance underpinned with the sense of sorrow at what has been lost. And yet, a sense of protectiveness and even a quiet joy that at least one tree has survived the havoc, for now. But it seems to increase the sorrow too, for it too will pass...
Perfect, Montag. Perfect. It sounds almost like a memory. From the first lines: "Upon a hill I saw a tree
with snow and green garbed perfectly;
perfect in its height and span..."
"in an age when we kill all gods,
this tree, I wonder what the odds
that it will live on and evade
the holocaust and clear-cut blade?"
The truth in every sense. But there is always hope. When we lose hope, we lose altogether. While there is still hope, improvements will be made.
Ben
Thank you.
Whew! At least no one has complained about using the word "blade" twice for a rhyme!
Sometimes the poems reflect what's going on at the other site, and since I had "sheretz" on my mind...
I saw the mighty forests which were cut down, like the mighty herds of buffalo which once blackened the prairies.
And I worry: if the way God made us is such that it requires a fine tuning with the rest of creation, what happens when we throw it out of balance?
Yes, that's a lilty lilt!
What moves me about the cadence mixed with the content is something like Ben said, that there is hope in the lyricism itself, the form! You see, this is a mystery, is it not? What will heal us. What will heal us?
We know not! That is why we must not lose hope. We learn something new from sadness, from fear, from all the negative emotions. We can observe them, and be healed from some form that arises from themselves! Like your poem.
For all we know your rhythm will go out like a rivulet and meet someone's heart as bonkers as . . . well as . . . you name him ...
what a beautiful scenery. Piece of nature art. Nice selection
Thanks, Ruth.
I seem to recall something about couplets... maybe Alexander Pope somewhere talking with you.
So I sat down to do this with a completely different scheme, the first line was "I saw a tree upon a hill" but it switches to "upon a hill I saw a tree", I think that that is an easy rhyme... and why not wing it with the Alexander Pope couplet thing... and there it was.
Thank you, Khalid. I am glad you like it. In the few moments when I began and was dithering about using rhyming couplets, I said to myself, "You know, people seem to like the couplets"... and I did not really know if people liked them, but I knew I liked them, and for some reason I had ignored them..
one can get hung up on finding a rhyme.
I think I'll try more of the poems in couplets. I am not aware of anyone doing a "good" job of it recently.
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