If Trees Had Voices // A Poem

I hear the trees breathing

as they stand with braided roots,

they have secrets folded in their bark

and cradle the nests that they recruit.

they record each and every year

inside the trunks they've grown.

circling the splintered memories

that they call their own.

sometimes, I can hear them 

whispering in the wind.

their words are faint as they blow

for their voices are wearing thin.

but if my ears are careful,

I may just hear them share 

their fading, desperate words,

repeating like a prayer:

"we are your shade

we are your home

we are your living air.

isn't this world big enough 

for all of us to share?

in us you put your hollow hopes

in us you put your trust.

we have been saving you 

all our lives

but who will then save us?"