Earth Day

If we keep going down this road 

-- clear cutting our woods and not replanting what we take -- 

we will not carry down this road forever.

What trees provide to the earth

-- not just to humans but to birds and animals,

to the air and the soil --

far outweighs what we gain by their destruction.

Oxygen, food and habitat.

That's what trees provide 

but to more than humans. 

If the birds and the animals disappear because the trees are gone,

how can we not expect humans to follow right behind?

It is too bad we cannot disappear first,

and let the trees take back the earth. 

Oxygen, food and habitat.

Those truckloads of logs driving past our rural homes

are not a sign of progress and a booming economy.

They are omens of

demise.

We, too, need oxygen, food and habitat,

and if we think those come without the help of trees,

we are too ignorant too survive.

Put down your phone, step away from the computer,

get out of your car,

and walk on the earth today.

Put your hand against the bark of a tree

and say thank you.

The trees have ears.