Trees of My Ancestors

Trees of my ancestors

Standing tall, overlooking the winding river

Reduced to blackened stumps,

Trees of my ancestors massacred.

The wind lost without the leaves,

Can the trees hear me sing in broken notes?

The rustling leaves gone,

The birds stopped their music.

I long to be a majestic tree, my roots deep into the Earth

Overlooking the winding river bubbling in laughter

The clouds kissing its branches

Sharing the songs of the Earth

Alive in sunshine

Breathing in the morning mist

Dancing like no one cares.

I can no longer dream at night,

This heartache. Am I the only one to bear?

The knowledge of the trees gone,

This land without memory.

*

Published in the anthology Songs of Raengdailu.