ON KILLING A TREE

-GIEVE PATEL

​

Presented by

-NISHA SARKAR

(Pgt. English)

It takes much time to kill a tree,

Not a simple jab of the knife

Will do it. It has grown

Slowly consuming the earth,

Rising out of it, feeding

Upon its crust, absorbing

Years of sunlight, air, water,

And out of its leprous hide

Sprouting leaves.

​

Consuming-using

Jab-Sudden rough blow

Leprous hide-discoloured bark

So hack and chop

But this alone wont do it.

Not so much pain will do it.

The bleeding bark will heal

And from close to the ground

Will rise curled green twigs,

Miniature boughs

Which if unchecked will

expand again

To former size.

Check-out roughly by striking heavy blow

Cut-out into piece

Twigs -new saplings

Miniature-small

Boughs-branches

No,

The root is to be pulled out -

Out of the anchoring earth;

It is to be roped, tied,

And pulled out - snapped out

Or pulled out entirely,

Out from the earth-cave,

And the strength of the tree

exposed,

The source, white and wet,

The most sensitive, hidden

For years inside the earth

Anchoring earth-Trees are held with the help of the roots in the earth

Snapped out-chopped out

Sensitive-soft

Then the matter

Of scorching and choking

In sun and air,

Browning, hardening,

Twisting, withering,

And then it is done

Scorching and choking-the drying up of the tree after being uprooted

Withering-drying

Poetic Devices-

Alliteration-bleeding bark,whitened wet

Metaphor-leprous hide,bleeding bark

Repetition-Pulled out.