ON KILLING A TREE - GIEVE PATEL (Poet)
Before you read
You must have observed people cutting down trees. But can they kill a tree? Is it easy to do so? Let’s read the poem and find out what the poet says about killing a tree.
Poem
It takes much time to kill a tree,
Not a simple jab of the knife
Will do it. It has grown
Slowly consuming the earth,
Rising out of it, feeding
Upon its crust, absorbing
Years of sunlight, air, water,
And out of its leprous hide
Sprouting leaves.
So hack and chop
But this alone won't do it.
Not so much pain will do it.
The bleeding bark will heal
And from close to the ground
Will rise curled green twigs,
Miniature boughs
Which if unchecked will expand again
To former size.
No,
The root is to be pulled out —
Out of the anchoring earth;
It is to be roped, tied,
And pulled out-snapped out
Or pulled out entirely,
Out from the earth-cave,
And the strength of the tree exposed
The source, white and wet,
The most sensitive, hidden
For years inside the earth
Then the matter
Of scorching and choking
In the sun and air,
Browning, hardening,
Twisting, withering,
And then it is done.
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK