When Great Trees Fall Poem by Maya Angelou

When Great Trees Fall

Rating: 4.6


When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.

Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Lungelo S Mbuyazi 25 November 2017

Well articulated poem. Like it

24 15 Reply
Jayatissa K. Liyanage 17 May 2016

Yes, it very well fits with your case as well, if you read this from some where. Voids created by fallen great trees will not be filled so easily. It may take ages. Gem of a stuff. X

19 19 Reply
Kay Staley 17 May 2016

Such beautiful imagery...

17 17 Reply
Bharati Nayak 17 May 2016

When great souls fall, its impact is felt in the atmosphere.Even animals can sense it.The loss freezes our senses for a while.But when we come to normal we feel that they still exist in our wisdom.We can be like them and be better and better by this wisdom.

15 16 Reply
Savita Tyagi 17 May 2016

Marvelous! Yes when great souls die we are frozen till their inspiring words resonate in our mind to bring us back to life and guide us to follow on their path.

15 15 Reply
Colton 20 April 2022

That was….awsome

0 1 Reply
Colton 20 April 2022

That was really nice

0 1 Reply
Hhjj 24 March 2021

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0 4 Reply
Hhjj 24 March 2021

Hhjjjj

0 4 Reply
mi dixie rekt 06 January 2021

sucks

1 3 Reply
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