The Trees Tell Me
Trees have never talked before
no one has ever heard tree thoughts.
As plants evolved, so did trees;
trillions and trillions appeared,
half gone now, down to three trillion.
Trees send signals through the forests;
using various chemicals
also fungi, roots and creatures.
Natives, gurus, forest bathers,
get glints of truths trees long have known.
Trees flourished ahead of humans
half a billion years before us.
It may well be then, that they think
this earth is more theirs, than it's ours.
Some trees can live five thousand years.
Having no eyes, no speech, no brains -
yet, they think and communicate.
"Tree Time" is ultra slow motion
it is like an alien notion.
Say you were to befriend a bee -
think how different you would see.
Each must focus to get their job done
in the short time they have to live.
Bee intelligence, you will find
is in the hive's collective mind.
It's tough to talk as we know it
but we surely ought to observe.
Trees remember all the seasons
mainly for their masting reasons.
Other species look up to trees.
Flower, fruit and leaf growth is timed.
Water, sugars, toxins are sent
under and above soil byways.
Watch what they do to hear their voice.
Trees have an ancient history
of wise spirit bound deep in wood.
Concepts like music, books and art
are mostly pointless to start.
None of them thinks in selfish terms,
their world is a collective we.
People think it is important
to know every little detail.
Trees think it is more important
to act on what is important.
Trees, bees and forest critters
all work in networks together.
They share light, shield from danger;
defend against weather and pests,
they act, react, see coming threats,
then move in some slow subtle ways
always with a sense of giving.
Trees grow branches in new directions
to keep the forest canopy.
Resilient life forces live within
Nature is the one God they see.
They nurture and care for their young
their thinking extends to others.
True, we don't know how far their limits
but they've seen the limits of ours.
Spend a few days in a forest,
bathe in collective intellect.
5/6/22 Free Verse 365 Words, 61 Lines
Inspired, as a precis, by such notables in tree science and research
as authors, teachers and lecturers - Robin Wall Kimmerer, Peter Wohlleben,
Susan Simard and David George Haskill, among others who have published
in science journals like Scientific American. The ideas included here are by no
means all encompassing. There is so much more experimentation and data
available to support these basic musings and assertions, which demonstrate
that trees are intelligent beings.
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