“Trees” (In the Cat’s Eye, 2009) is about the steady
deterioration of the family unit in our culture.
In recent years, the importance of these family trees has
been lost in the individual demands of a culture more interested in material
attractions.
Our family trees are dying before our eyes: replaced by a
dependence on a government that has no appreciation for the personal development
of the individual and no ability to decipher the metaphysical relationship
between nature and our pursuit of meaning in our lives.
We watch our family trees fade away just as we have seen the
beautiful trees of our early history disappear. We will awake one day and find that not only the elms and chestnuts, but also the maples and oaks will be gone, lost to diseases that killed
them from the inside out. We should beware that our own trees don’t also
disappear into the clouds we are currently building around ourselves.
Trees
The “spreading
chestnut trees” of Longfellow,
And mighty elms that
guarded our small towns,
No longer wrap our
culture in their cool embrace.
They have gone to
rest with our ancestors.
Even our maples and oaks are wilting in the
sun,
Slowly digested by
invaders from the Far East.
We worry about ozone
layers and assault from above,
And hide inside our
doors, unaware
We are dying from the
ground up.
Too busy with our
lives
To notice
The quiet deaths
Of our family trees.
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