Best Gum Tree Poems
All around looks cruel and starved,
and bleached bones define a stretch
of drought and death that halved
life for that lone, starving wretch.
Mountains have formed a background,
shaped by sporadic storms and rain;
a dry creek bed revives when drowned
where stands forlorn upon the plain.
One lone gum in friendless splendour,
where from a sapling passed the years;
stands without sibling contender,
to guard these vast untamed frontiers.
The passing years have left their mark,
with scars and wounds by elements.
Storms, fire and water stripped its bark
without concern for sentiments.
Life and death on widespread limbs;
decayed and fallen, yet endures
with glossy leaves and flowered rims,
to state still many years assures.
The sun that crisps the baking earth,
provided shade for travelling souls,
and sustenance in times of dearth,
or shelter in the dead limb holes.
Striving on through stout revival,
this grand gum rejecting failure.
Here stands the spirit of survival,
that represents Australia.
I stood before this gentle giant,
in silent wonder with respect;
observe foliage still defiant,
as hot winds blow boughs unchecked.
And so this solitary gum;
an outback artist’s wondrous theme,
becomes immortalized by some,
with a soft pastel colour scheme.
have you been to the bubble gum tree<
a place thats full of mystery,
a place that you can let your thaughts go,
a place where u can go with the flow.
i went to christmas at the bubble gum tree,
a place where you, first met me,
hiding behind the sofa to see
if you would make me a cup of tea.
a magical place where anything goes,
youd be out of place if you had 17 toes,
but only certain people knows,
the magical world of the bubble gum tree
broad faced koala
like Jim Henson stitched muppet
stinky hugs clamber
wide eyed from home in gum tree
scared away by Aussie flames
Le gommier de la Municipalite - Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal's Municipal Gum Tree by T Wignesan
[Automatic re-translation into English edited for effect...]
Le gommier qui se trouve sur la rue de la ville,
Le bitume autour de tes pieds,
Il vaudrait mieux que tu sois
Dans le monde des espaces fraiches entouré d’arbres feuillus
de la forêt
Et des chants des oiseaux sauvages.
Ici tu me parais
Comme ce pauvre cheval de trait-là
Castré, démoli, une chose écartée et damnée,
Harnaché et bouclé, c’est l’enfer prolongé,
Dont la tête baissée et le mien fade exprime
L’espoir à jamais perdu.
Le gommier de la ville, c’est douloureux
De t’apercevoir ainsi
Figé dans ta pelouse noircie de bitume –
O concitoyen,
Qu’est-ce qu’ils ont fait de nous?
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2016
Copyright © T Wignesan | Year Posted 2016
Le gommier de la Municipalite - Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal's Municipal Gum Tree by T Wignesan
Gum tree sitting on the street of the city,
Bitumen around your feet,
It would be better if you were in the world of cool spaces
Surrounded by leafy trees of the forest
And the songs of wild birds.
Here you recall
That poor draft horse
Castrated, demolished, a thing spread-eagled and damned,
Harnessed and shackled.
This is prolonged hell,
And whose head downcast, bland mien expressing hope forever lost.
Gum tree of the city, it's painful
To see you thus
Frozen in your turf, blackened with bitumen –
O! fellow citizen!
What did they do with us?
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2016
Copyright © T Wignesan | Year Posted 2016
She sits beneath the old gum tree
eyes of black, teeth so sharp, claws of steel
she tells them stories and they listen
stories of death and destruction
stories of grief and misery
and so we sit under the old gum tree
the animals, the demon and me
What do they wish to see,
A fleeting soul,
hanged under the Gumtree
Papers are all you know,
but never final set of eyes
blinded by faith I see glows
I bleed worse than a heresy
not who I dreamt to be.
I wish the knew & the how...