Nature's sorrow

Tiny creatures stop at my feet
Marvelling at my majesty
Brief sparks of life
Instants measured against mine

I towered above this land
Before the first of their kind
Walked this fertile earth
Beneath the shade of my offspring

This rich dark earth
That nurtures my roots
That binds me forever to the ground
On which I stand solitary and still

Lone but not alone
Bejewelled with mosses and fungi
Stealing small snippets of my endless life
Only to fade and return my gift once more

Insects troop endlessly over my thick skin
Birds nest between reaching fingers
Squirrels sleep through the snows
Nestled safely in the folds of my age.

Old I feel now
Watching my children felled one by one
Scenting the foulness of the air
Tasting the poisons in the water
Deserted now by my little family.

Mosses do not grow anymore
Nor the birds sing
The squirrel’s snug lies cold and empty
As empty as my great heart.