A Whole Wood Just Disappeared Poem by Deanna Samuels

Driving along Elgin Mills Road
coming from Richmond Hill,
a little way passed Woodbine Avenue,
went by the newly mushroomed housing -
a whole new huge development which
replaced corn fields about two years ago,
something was different to the scene -
a scene drove by only the week before.

Something was missing -
something substantial was not there.
I did not want to believe it -
the small wood that edged
the road for about 100 yards
easing inwards for half that length or so -
was gone, had disappeared!

It was then I witnessed many piles of
heaped up tree trunks lying upon the other,
no sturdy branches or long tapering twigs,
just full-length tree trunks.
My heart sank,
a beautiful small wood of tall mature trees,
trees that had grown there for many years
giving the area great attraction and
sanctuary for birds rearing their young,
home to woodland fauna and wildlife
gone -
fallen to developer's diggers and saws.

Very soon that road site will be transformed,
lined with long rows of three floored towns,
each allocated with a small tender Maple tree
planted in a newly constructed grass verge.
Many years will pass for those trees to grow
and beautify roadside as the woods once did.


Written in the car along Elgin Mills Road following seeing above scene - (I was not driving) - 13th April 2026