Sunday 26 August 2018

A day in the forest


Dawn; faint glittering rays of sunshine
Now beams through the branches of the trees
The forest awakes this summer morn
Now some unwelcome guests appear
Just up Hillside road woodcutters are here

Trucks arrive as teams now start their job
Trees chosen are cleared at their base
For first bite of axe this day's morn
Then faint groans, birds fly off in haste
The workmen's manner quite wooden faced

As trees fall, forest life has all fled
Rotary blades trim off the waste
Trees left now whisper quite forlorn
As smell of sawdust fills the air
While workers joke a laugh without care

Felled timber is taken from the scene
As melting sun sinks in the west
A terrace of tree stumps looks forlorn
Returning wildlife see their sad plight
They know they'll need new shelter tonight

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/forest-cut-down-a-tree-trunk-tree-2995502/

17 comments:

  1. A wistful delight..such a sad scene beautifully conveyed

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  2. Oh dear.. this is just sad. Thoughtless destruction without a sustainability plan is only going to bring us faster to our end.

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  3. Nice one Robin

    Happy Sunday

    Much🌻love

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  4. Oh, the calamity is well imagined in your words — it's a moving picture our decadence and waste. How nature bears the scars of our subsistence!
    Very well penned.
    -HA

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  5. When I lived in forest country, I despised the woodcutters: so noisy, so uncaring, so destructive!

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  6. I recall coming on such a scene....tree roots poking up into the sky. It looked like the wisdom teeth of the planet were being pulled. Turns out, that was true.

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  7. I love the line "Felled timber is taken from the scene," which takes it from a sad tale to a crime...at least for me. :)

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  8. I like how you attributed woodenness to the workmen and let the spirit of the forest come alive.

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  9. Very sad about the animals needing new shelter, Robin. That is what struck me the most.

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  10. "The workmen's manner quite wooden faced"--an irony, as they are taking the wood from the living trees " whisper quite forlorn." How did we ever come to that meaning for wooden? And then you have animals with loss of shelter! Oh, what a moving poem!

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  11. It is such a shame, Robin, that trees are still chopped down in forests. Such a horrible fate to wake up to! I cringed at the words:
    'Trees chosen are cleared at their base
    For first bite of axe this day's morn
    Then faint groans, birds fly off in haste
    The workmen's manner quite wooden faced'
    and felt so sad at the lines:
    'Trees left now whisper quite forlorn
    As smell of sawdust fills the air'.

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  12. Thank you for highlighting this matter! It makes me both sad and angry.

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  13. Well drawn. An impactful and important piece. Thanks for this, Robin!

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  14. So terribly said, Robin. The line about the scent of sawdust made me wonder if the tree smell it like we would smell spilled blood. Heartbreaking... and infuriating.

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  15. well described about the logging.
    i guess the bottom line of corporations is more important than the plight of the wildlife that depend on the forest to live. :(

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  16. So sad--I love trees--they speak to me--how sad when all they can do is whisper

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  17. sharp write.
    we all dive into darkness sometimes when we write.

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