Shattered Stages

The wood misunderstood the knife, the ax, the scythe
though for centuries it had sheltered man and should not
have misunderstood man's intent.

Wind chimes sublime mime melodies wordless tones
without rhyme noting not the passing of time.

The endless sky buoys the trees leaves on coy up drafts,
wafting orange, gold and green to the cheeks of cumulus white,
enjoying the dichotomy between soft and hard.
Thermal columns deploy destroyed bits of bough.  

Seeds of all kinds entwine, caress, combine, they're of one mind;
they procreate by design, wind borne to other climes.

And so, the firmament complies for known reasons
not to be undone each season, each tree, a beason from on high
reseeding forests from the ax's treason; gifting the breath 
on which all life relies.

Maple, oak, ash, pine, spruce and even palm, their numbers
whittled by man's metal, leaving homeless little creatures
trapped between man in the middle of a serious decline. 
Even man's life is belittled for greed rules.

The smaller things those on wings are routed out on 
wind and tide. Burnt sprouts crisp without, caused by drought
there's little doubt about their demise.

The beauty of a bumble bee, a ladybug, a seed blown on
an autumn breeze, they matter. The natural world man's torn
and tattered leaving empty nights without the chatter of the frog
and cicada. The owls they've scattered, their prey feed on poisonous scree.
Soon only waves of mindless prater will fill the wind  come from the sea.

Forewarned by Prime now's the time to shift our focus to what's sublime
labeling pollution as a crime. Let man heal the clime
repay his greed with natures green.

So disengage decrease your horde, live a simpler life, be sage.
The earth breathes, in wood, wind, water, and metal now fire
burns the stage, the elements are God's gauge.
Damp this all to human rage.

would
could
should
misunderstood
wood
sublime
rhyme
chime
mime
time
enjoy
coy
buoy
deploy
destroy
entwine
kind
line
climes
mind
reason
season
treason
beason
undone
metal
little
belittle
riddle
middle
out
doubt
routed
sprout
drought 
shatter
prater
matter
tatter
chatter
sublime
climb
time
crime
prime
gauge
sage
stage
disengage
rage
Copyright © | Year Posted 2014

Poem

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Yvonne Avatar
September 26, 2014 at 7:27 PM
Tough challenge great write all the same. The structures that seem to entrap us, give us cause to seek solutions and stimulate our creative juices. Once we put the pieces in place we often find a picture greater than we imagined.
Guzzi Avatar
September 26, 2014 at 9:07 PM
Thanks Maurice!
Lindley Avatar
July 12, 2014 at 12:11 PM
You did a fantastic job of using those words. I see you got in a moral, a lesson , a bit of magic and the beauty of Nature that trees so inspire! BBBBBBBRRRRavoooooo!!!!!!! I have always loved trees just like my father(once a lumberjack) and my Native American grandfather did!
Guzzi Avatar
July 12, 2014 at 2:47 PM
yes trees would have been my entry for the Most Beautiful Contest I ran
Parker Avatar
July 11, 2014 at 5:24 PM
I was more caught up in the message of your poetry not the structure of it, and the message wasn't lost in its length...nice poem
Guzzi Avatar
July 11, 2014 at 7:15 PM
thanks Fred I was really TRYING to hide the forced rhyme in the message at least for you I have suceeded
Showalter Swift Avatar
July 11, 2014 at 2:55 PM
ENJOYED
Guzzi Avatar
July 11, 2014 at 2:54 PM
My conclusion is 50 is too many rhyming words to incorporate and not have the feeling the poet is blithering, I would suggest under 25 Victoria and that the words not be forced into groups of 5 but be used at random though out the verse [I think that would make the verse still ring with rhyme but be less sing song] You encouraged a/a/a/a-b/b/b/b etc I suggest a/b/a/b-b/a/b/a-c/d/c/d-d/c/d/c etc
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