IN THE ARBORETUM

In the arboretum is a reminder of how small the human race is in the face of wilderness. My friend and I took a bicycle ride in the "green plethora" of Karura Forest in the summer of 2018 and through our adventure we stumbled upon a huge burrow under a tree. Curiosity got me asking him 'wanna go check out what lives there?' and he obviously was interested but immediately I got off my bike and begun "walking among fallen leaves and branches" the cascade of emotions begun, the fact of the matter was HUGE BURROWS ONLY HOUSE HUGE ANIMALS with claws or fangs or venom and that is when I realised the "man-made hierarchy" is nonsense if you are not a trained expert. Anyway long story short I chickened out and I spent the entire ride wondering what might have been.

Now out of the forest and into the mind of the wanderer: the solitude of a forest allows for the trees to grow strong and in multitudes. I imagine the first tree "mother tree" to ever exists must have grown to megalithic height, towering above all other species it must have been a focal point for "worship" by our "ancestors" those beings must have spiritually understood the importance of our coexistence with mother-nature, I mean a tree stumps print resembles that of  a finger print. 

It is no breaking news that deforestation has been on the rise. The story of climate change has been sang since the 60's when peace was been preached but those in power never took the early warning signs seriously. Now here we are in the 21st century and the ravages of continuous ignorance are slowly beginning to surface, forest fires, hurricanes, sand storms, earthquakes, and drought appearing in countries that have never experienced such weather patterns. The off-spring so to speak of this mother tree are "falling victim" to the destruction of this planet and what do we as humans do? we afforest. We create "arboretums" and as the '"wind" passes through the leaves I imagine they share "stories of the changing world."  

In the Arboretum

Have you ever seen beings in the wild?

Within the plethora of green canopy,

Surrounded by their kin creations,

A deprivation of the man-made hierarchy;

Walking on fallen leaves & branches,

That once belonged to the mother tree,

She has seen millennium after millennium of your ancestors,

Who once worshipped beside her and within her,

She experiences the atrocities of man,

And has fallen victim to their slow demise,

In the arboretum,

She whispers with the wind,

They share tales of the changing world,

Her roots are the connection,

As a above so it is below.

-x m