Deforestation

If you enter my depths, and open your senses like petals to the sun, you will hear my voice, calling out to you to listen and be compelled!

When you walk beneath my boughs
They make a canopy above your gaze -
So intricate that the sky appears in glimpses
And if you invade my domain
You will find your steps impeded by the foliage
That flourishes between the stalwart trunks
Of my populace - this earth's rich heritage.

You can feel the deep silence of my presence
Which embraces your every alert sense.

This is where the leopards lurk
The deer stand still or leap away,
Here I have the foxes' den
The pheasants' call, the rhino's horn
The bison herds between my bark
And birds of every hue and cry
Send sharp signals
To all prey
Who slink away
Amidst my intense density
Where monkeys chatter
And squirrels scatter
Nuts and fruits
Against my roots
And blooms that vie
In shape and colour
To attract and capture
The insect life that is enraptured
By the habitat I provide.

But you have set a tidal wave
That sweeps under the forest glade
Pushing my treeline back
To the edge of life's brink.
You have cleared me to plant cash crops
You have cleared me to graze cattle
You have cleared me to cultivate
You have cleared me to build your homes,
Your roads, your factories and fires,
To paper walls, to write your tales,
To feed your staggering race.
 

You have set in motion soil erosion
You have let landslides, mudslides crush.
My roots that keep the earth soil porous,
Now removed, cause floods that flash.
Till in a hundred years from now
My forests will exist no more
Replaced by a silence
More terrifying than war.
 

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