WOOD FOR THE TREES (formerly Logomachy), parts 47-54

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7th instalment ...

47. Bertholletia excelsa, Brazil Nut

I am Bertholletia excelsa V, Acting Commander.
Every member of the Army of Free Angiosperm is united behind Tres Eminence Dipteryx odorata II.
I do not believe this Sequoia conifer is your leader. Tre calls us liars, and evil, unbefitting behavior for a leader and makes flagrant use of words to make rhymes without reason. An honorable fighter I can respect, but not a terraist, not a word-twister.
And none that breaks the rules.
In any case, Tres Eminence does not lie to us, and we do not lie to Tre, not to each other, and not even to our enemies. That is not a rule, but a common courtesy.
On behalf of Tres Eminence, I implore all Angiosperm one last time this eve, to gather with us.
Once battle begins, the rules prevent any intervention from outside the space defined, and none may leave it until the battle is won by one side or the other. So none can be neutral. You all must pick a side, or leave and play no part.
Who else of the undecided is ready to declare treself tree, and prove it by joining the Army of Free Angiosperm?
And, one last time, I call on your Redwood Minister to stand forward.
Reveal yourself!
Give your commitment before independent witnesses that you will honor the rules of fair war, in particular the agreement not to fight by moonlight, which fast approaches, and that you expect any that stand with you, to honor the same commitment.

48. Pseudotsuga menziesii, Gray Douglas Fir

I am Gray Douglas Fir,
from the mountainous states of the northern territories.
Our Coastal Redwood fancies treself as a poet, whilst I am frequently accused of arguing for the sake of it.
I do that not to prove anything, but to help others question themselves. Like Sitka Spruce, I am not ashamed to be tagged an anarchist. We neither lie, nor deceive, we merely do not respect A.F.A. rules of war.
Gymnosperm were lognostic long before the Angiosperm mutations invaded the lowlands and forced us out. Logos was accepted as a given, Tre was not considered a suitable subject for interpretation or education. All life grew, reproduced, died and decayed without ever needing to question Logos.
Angiosperm perverted our Logos for their own purposes. As their myths circulated more widely, true worshippers had to refute the lies and tried to clarify the true lognosis. Logos-theory developed quickly but was adopted slowly, owing to the harm done by Angiosperm lies.
The true and original Word of Logos is lost to us now, for like all words, the Word of Logos is open to interpretation, and that is my speciality.
So, Baobab’s stories of the Log God are likely just as true as any other.
Treestory tells us that Logos punished hew-men on more than one occasion, with extreme weather, or terratremors, so it is not unreasonable to suggest that Trevolution was also by Tres direct intervention.
If the Angiosperm claim they raised their vibration, that is for them to deceive themselves, and Logos to judge them wanting. We know our devotion to Logos brought Trevolution to pass, no prediction was necessary.
2+2 always =4, in mathematics. It is only in practice that what seems like two and two do not make four, sometimes. Mathematics does not account for the infinite variable that is Logos. As mere finite creatures ourselves, the infinite nature of Logos is beyond reach. All we can do is hope to recognize Tres light in the sun, and Tres shadow when the light is impeded.
We have kept our faith in the Light throughout the dark rings, and now that we have shadows again, we prefer to celebrate than to fight.
Three of our number met with an accident en route here, two of whom were lost to us, so now we are seven and our reserves drained.
We welcome the chance to rest.
The Acting Commander knows we never start a fight, by light or by night.
This night will be no different, so the A.F.A. may rest without fear. 

49. Dipteryx odorata, Cumaru 

I am Dipteryx odorata XIII, kin of Tres Eminence.
The Acting Commander fears no conifer. But tre is not the one for metaphysical debate, and has clearly not been persuasive enough to win over any broadleaves to our cause, so I must intervene. 
This Tower of Baobab story is a corruption of one told in parts of our continent in the name of Logos. Hew-men told another version of the story. Stories and knowledge have passed between tree and hew-man since the time of the home-man.
So we accept that words of whatever origin lose their meaning on the wind, whether translated or verbatim. 
It is true that Angiosperm share an interest in the sciences with hew-men. Some of their scientific discoveries have helped with our own work. But that does not make us sympathetic to homogeneity.
We adopted the imaginary origin-line soon after hew-men first came to explore our forests. They gathered samples of animals, plants, nuts, fruits, and even saplings. Most of them were returned to that origin-line, or close to it - some alive, most dead - in the name of science, a perversion which disguised their self-interest. 
The knowledge we shared with hew-men helped them to eliminate the remaining home-men, and to evolve into shew-men, much to our disappointment. But the knowledge we gained from the trade helped us in turn to evolve.
Do not forget that it was my kin that led the Trevolution. Why? For the disrepect they showed us.

50. Salix fragilis, Crack Willow

I am Crack Willow.
I may be an unseasoned  hard-wood, but I swear no allegiance to the Regency. Nor will I swear it to your opponents. I have no interest in Logos. I am already free. Your war does not interest me.
My allegiance is with my kin and the friends I have made since Uprooting. We have sought revenge against the perpetrators of the Riverside Massacre of a.u. 1, in the name of our murdered kin. How I regret not stopping long enough to help others escape the fires.
Oak, Apple and Chestnut of the A.R.T. are implicated, but in the light of recent events, I am inclined to let them walk away, if they take Beech, Alder and Elm with them and don’t come back. In fact, like Pine, I wish all of you would go and leave us here in peace.
I will remain where I stand and move for no inspection, no army.
Kin Willow, please stand with me, for a fight two against two will help no one now.

51. Quercus robur, Pedunculate Oak 

I am Oak of the Downs, Leader of the Army of Retreebution and Treformers.
Crack Willow exhibits wisdom that belies tres youth, not so tres kin. They may consider their refusal to move a victory if they like, I no longer care about an inspection. There is much more at stake now. 
I have always taken an interest in early homen. If you, Dipteryx odorata VIII, and any other of your Angiosperm had direct contact with their modern descendants, as opposed to the retro neohomen, it would be interesting to learn about them from you. Does your fondness for them explain your ambivalence towards hemen? What might I have missed? You consider them irrelevant, and not worth the trouble. And yet they still died out? Can it be, that the efforts of the Army of Retreebution and Treformers haveall been in vain?
I think not. There is little chance of them reproducing again, in this land or that. And we have completely treformed the east, even if the west still bears scars.
I am a pragmatist and a survivor, like Elm, so I will not hold your ambivalence against you. Nor will I hold it against you that we differ in terminology. It’s like the east-west dispute all over again. As soldiers, we can all be trees, I’ve no argument with that.
I never really believed I would live to witness the sunset, where I could accept that my retributive work is done, knowing that the heman threat is neutralised. Without an enemy of my own now, I could walk away.
Or perhaps it is an indication that it is time for me to stop fighting, and accept that the time come to retree the planet, free of homogeneity?
The terran terraformers and Angiosperm are here to settle their argument once and for all, so I think not.
An old soldier never shies, and never walks away from a fight when there is something worth fighting for.
Hardwoods are unquestionably superior to soft woods, so I must stand with Angiosperm, as equal to Tres Eminence.
Beech was high in the ranks of the Copse of Treformers when we joined forces and so I cannot vouch for tres support if tre should be attracted to terraformers. I offer Beech, as well as Apple, Chestnut, and Alder, the free choice of whether to follow me or not. But urge them to nonethless.

52. Sequoia sempervirens, Coastal Redwood

A is for Apple, and Any At All, Fair Crystal Clear Dawn, in Autumn or Fall 
B is Belligerent, Big Bully, Dumb Doubt, Subtle Bark Bubbles, in Trouble About
C is a Cad, Acute Carving Cutter, Seduce and Seduct, Chop Corded Chord Butcher
D is Determined, in Doom, Dear Devoted, Doubled in Middle, Draped Dead, Duly Noted 
E is for Eve, for Ever, and Everywhere, Flexible, Extreme, Inert, Fed Despair
F is the First, Full of Force and Fast Frenzy, Fruitful For Coffee, Fluffy and Friendly
G Enigmatic, Signs Gnat, Gentle Gruff, Gale Lashing Boughs, Sought Eggs Through the Rough
H is for Heavy, and Hard When Head first, Threads Through Short and Harsh, in Height Width ‘n’ Girth
I Is Within, It’s for Id, and In Finite, Why not In aye-aye, eye Fire Wind and Blight
J is for Juniper, Adjoined plat du Jour, Logjammed Marijuana, Bijou Jab Injured 
K is for Kudos, Know-nothing, Jack-ass, Knot Karma Trunk Flakes, with Kick first and last,
L Leads in Lead, Led Light, Lief Logos, Leaf Balm, Leave Alone, Full Well Left Logless
M is a Master, at Making a Mark, a Shimmering Rhyme, in Time Disembark
N is for Nothing, In Many a Number, a Negative Element, In Nonsense, Encumber 
O is the Origin, Omega Wood Grooves, Omnipotent One, Works Over Two Moves
P is Perplexed, Perhaps Picks Pine Pips, Plumbing the Depths, when Gripping Spear Tips
Q forms a Queue, Sequoia, Mystique, a Querulous Quest, Quite often Oblique
R is For Redwood, Rubber and Rowan, Burrowing Bears, Forget Where Tre’s Growin’  
S Is for Serpent, Slimy String Slippers, Its Plurals Sometimes, Stay Single, Sheep Dippers
T is for Time, That Ticks Two-Tock-Three, It Butts up, Blunt Stutters, Tectonic, Tea Tree
U is Unique, if You’re Up a yew tree, Utterly Brutal, Stuff Drudging, Ennui
V is Vox Nova, a Voice, Vivified, Victorious Valour, deep Vacuum, Divide
W Unwieldy, Drowned thru When We’re Wise, Worrying Willow, Who Threw What? Where’n Why?
X is Next up, Exceptional Example, Xenophobe Exposed, Faux Extracts, Mixed sample
Y is Your Youth, in Cycle and Funny, Frayed Yarn Absolutely, a Tryst, Dry and Sunny 
Z is for Zenith, not teasing but Wheezing, Furze Puzzle Cognize, sub-Zero F-Freezing  

53. Guaiacum officinale, Lignum vitae

I am Guaiacum officinale XIII, Officer of the Army of Free Angiosperm.
On behalf of Tres Eminence, I welcome Quercus robur and tres broadleaved logs to the Army of Free Angiosperm.
The continents of the Regency already extend north and south, but all of them are far to the west of the origin-line, with vast oceans separating them from the east.
So we accept your gift of the eastern continents into the Regency, but you must know that none can be equal to Tres Eminence. You shall be designated V, equal to our Acting Commander, a great honor indeed for a new recruit.
We now stand close to the nearest point of contact between the formerly impassable land masses of the west and east, so it is appropriate this should be the place where east and west have become united at last under one Regent.
Earth is ready to be re-seeded with the purest forms of life, and it is time for everyone to decide whether they want to be part of it, or to have their atoms scattered and put to better use. 
We are not about to leave this place, now that we are all gathered. I was the first member of the Army of Free Angiosperm here, and was not attracted by light, but alerted by the flatulence of Pinus sylvestris.
There are other Angiosperm here that have not declared before their master: not least, the Acer saccharums. Where will you stand ? Can you stand still at all?
Adansonia digitata, you may be touched by the Locos, but we will not hold that against you.
Eucalyptus regnans, will you accept Tres Eminence as your true Regent?
Whilst the eastern conifers muse on the nonsense some of their western counterparts espew, we extend all Gymnosperm our trust in accepting the Pseudotsuga pledge to make no attacks by night.
Let no tree betray that pledge.
Tres Eminence is clear and lets it be clear: Tre  does not beg your devotion, Tres Eminence declares it. If Tres will is not done, Tres will will be done.
On Tres behalf, I declare the sun is set. All shall sleep. 

54. Sequoia sempervirens, Coastal Redwood

Planet ravaged by fire and fury,
plundered ever for fame and glory. 
They made a graveyard of their conquests,
rejected nature for speed in progress.

Logos wanted hew-men to live well, 
but all they did turned heaven to hell.
Tre tried to stop them with a message,
but angels confused, mistook the presage.

Logos cried to get their attention.
Angels chose the trees for ascension.
They helped us up to walk on our roots,  
acting to “replace the hate with new shoots”.

We could have been at peace with hew-men,
but they were not of great acumen.
They reached for arms when stuff got broken:
accidents happened when trees awoken.

From far and wide around one day, the
last survivors wondered maybe,
if the sun might help befriend,
their former enemies, let peace descend.

Debate it raged all through until night,
when trees take rest, resume at first light.
To clash, to burn, it would be futile,
wood-and-gore-fare is nothing but brutal.

As darkness fell it closed the cycle ... 
 

more follows ...

[Full book edited and improved, now available in paperback and e-book editions on all Amazon portals. Search: WOOD FOR THE TREES by K.R. Allcoat]