These Trees..... Poem by RIC BASTASA

this is the tree
with lots of fruits hanging
on its branches

this is another tree
known for its hardwood and
scent
it is tall and strong
and mighty

this is another tree with
medicinal leaves
it has cured many and
sturdy and steady

you have cut them all
and they have no voices
they have no hands to
protect themselves
no feet for them to run
away
no minds of their own
perhaps to articulate what
injustice had been committed
to them and to their
race and ancestors and to
them most precisely


you have cut them all
and they are all gone
and on their stumps lie
the silence of their
tragedies
on the sawdust lies
the unheralded injustice
of their existence

this poem shall speak for
them


you must haveheard
the vengeance of their floods
you must count the
deaths of the other innocents.....