ANOTHER CONIFER CASUALLY CUT
A burst of smoke; a chainsaw revs.
With steel scream, ferocious teeth rip.
A frantic shark tearing into tender flesh.
Nutshells of bark fly afar,
clouds of white dust drift downwind,
a wound bleeds tears of sap.
A heartwood core callously cut.
The gash deepens, the trunk groans,
creaks as it leans and leans.
Its weight nips attacking teeth
in some futile challenge.
The shark slows,
its scream blunts to a murmur;
near to stalling point.
But again its adrenaline is up.
It revs and tears in for the final rip.
A conifer's spine cut near-through.
It snaps; its trunk topples,
brushes neighbours, breaks branches,
lands with a hefty thud.
The saw falls silent; the forest is still;
the dust settling.
A moment to mourn one more death.
The corpse chained, dragged off for pulp
to make cardboard boxes and paper bags.
Copyright © Tony Hargreaves | Year Posted 2019
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