The Gum Tree Poem by Paul Isaac

The boy lies back on crackling grass
And gazes at the old gum's grasping arms.
Shadows, leaves, birds, a gurgling creek -
Flickering
Falling
Flying
Flowing.
Always growing
Always changing.
Beyond it all the ancient bush that soon will yield
To the suburb's stealthy sprawl.
 
What takes root in the young child's mind is this:
The clouds above the gum are spinning by
Like ghosts of children gone before.
How can it be?
Where do they go, these ghosts, and why?
Surely this solid earth beneath his back can't move …
 
But it does.
The gum stands and sways,
A distant song crackles through the air.
Was the boy asleep
and dreaming
Or was the earth just
Humming its eternal tune?
 
The earth spins and
The boy is a child no more.
The gum has gone
But the roots
And the clouds
And the ghosts
Remain.
 (Brisbane, August 2011)