ODE TO THE MURDERED BELLO TREES

ODE TO THE MURDERED BELLO TREES
(Bello is the shortened form of 'Bellingen' - the town I live in.
​This is what it looked like BEFORE the trees were cut down.)
 
Tonight I sit with tears pouring down my face,
burning deeper lines in my weary face.
 
Today our town square trees were killed.
The heart and soul and breath of our town was slowly decimated – limb by limb
till they gave their last life-giving breath.
Razed to the ground.
 
Ever since I was a child,
I looked at humanity with shocked awe,
the insensitivity, the stupidity,
the disconnection, the barbarity.
 
Did they not know that there is a divine order in the Universe
That Mother Earth comes first
Always first.
That humans, and any other entity’s
puny needs must always come second.
There is NOTHING if we do not have our Mother.
 
To think I have to shout this to the sky,
seems like the ultimate absurdity.
 
I returned back to this town after 17 years
 of the wilderness in the city
 to the womb and safety of community.
But the corporate tentacles have made their way here too.
 
When I cry out in consternation
at why, why, why?....
Follow the money – always follow the money.
The best and most well-meaning hearts
forced into the narrow confines of the
Hegelian Dialectic – the us and them
the false dichotomising.
 
Their outcome achieved,
not only the heart ripped from our center,
but also a community satisfactorily divided, separated,
unable to join to fight the real shadows
playing with our hearts and minds.
 
Surely a win-win could have been created?
If we had been give the opportunity to truly Listen to each other’s hearts and minds?
 
There is always a way if we value what is sacred.
But never again to feel those cool branches,
Or the ancient silent protection underneath our feet.
Home to insects, birds, and the homeless.
 
So what can we do but continue with weary hearts,
hoping against hope that one day
we will be able to create the world
to which we all actually yearn to belong.
 
To me, there is no other journey worth living
To remind myself and us all
That it is possible, that we can do it.
We CAN WAKE UP NOW
Because later…. may be too late.
​