Charmed Chaos
Musings on Life, Love, and Linguine-Poetry & Writing
The Last Stand
The ancient ones huddled together
whispering secrets to one another
sending urgent silent messages
through gnarled entwined roots.
Man has lost all common civility,
through greed and his vapid stupidity
quickening our mortality as well as their own
and our planet will meet a bitter demise.
For we are the final resistance,
the last stand of majestic trees
we see mother nature’s omens,
our sap flows free as we grieve.
An ominous dawn of reckoning
is fast approaching, we see
there will be nothing left for them
but poisoned air to breathe.
As the last of our heroic friends fall
with the sound of reverberating thunder
this beautiful earth that we call home
will heave a fiery sigh and burst asunder.
©2021 Linda Lee Lyberg
dVerse poets Pub: Poetics
Imaginary Garden with Real Toads: The Tuesday Platform
Share this:
33 Comments on “The Last Stand”
Leave a reply to Margaret Elizabeth Bednar Cancel reply
JUST RELEASED!
JUST RELEASED!
Bartender at
Barista at Go Dog Go Cafe
Awards Top 20 Short Story Blog
Recent Comments
 | Linda Lee Lyberg on Spring Sigh |
 | Jetty on Spring Sigh |
| Linda Lee Lyberg on The Legend of Jump River … |
 | Mickey on The Legend of Jump River … |
| Linda Lee Lyberg on The Gift |
POETS CORNER
Charmed Chaos 
Ah, this reminds me so much of the Ents from the Lord of the Rings.
It’s powerful how you see the trees as the ancient ones and build this narrative of the last stand. Your words are ominous but they will come to be if we do not change our ways. Well penned!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you Anmol. I so appreciate your words. And yes, it will.
LikeLike
Shrewsbury Museum has a couple of very, very old boats that were carved from whole tree trunks. They were preserved in peat bogs and every time I think about them I consider how someone managed to create something with a lasting impact that over a thousand year’s later it would bring wonder, and it barely made a mark on the environment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cool. Thanks for sharing.
LikeLike
Sorry, I know it seems random but your poem made me think about them. Hit a chord immediately with the first stanza.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, I appreciate you stopping by!
LikeLike
‘our sap flows free as we grieve; What a gorgeous line!
Forests of all types are dear to me – so many are lost now to construction and climate change.
Lovely write.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for your kind words. I found this in SPAM this morning, hence my late response.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The horse chestnuts have a disease, ash die-back is creeping across the country, even the commercial pines have something wrong with them. It’s really scary. Your poem captures one of my great fears.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mine too. Thank you Sarah.
LikeLike
Your poem made me cry. I wish I could envision another ending — or no end.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It made me cry too. Thank you, you are such a good soul.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Linda, thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautifully dark image of our tree’s sad plight, as they try to stand as our final sentinels. I too have written about trees, and I lovethus one Linda. Gawd, for being an supposedly intelligent species, we are so damned stupid!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, we are. Thank you Rob.
LikeLike
Without the trees and the bees, we will have to grow gills that can breathe toxins; our air will become Martian.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, thank you for reading Glenn.
LikeLike
Love how the ancient trees communicate and can give warnings. Sadly we fail to heed them and the ending is just bleak and filled with darkness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it is sad. Thank you Grace.
LikeLike
I like the way your poem builds to a fiery climax! Anmol(alias HA) is right, it is our “Collective Ignorance!'”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it certainly is. Thank you Dwight.
LikeLike
Wonderful, Linda! Whispering trees and silent messages are happening in our garden as I read this, which makes your poem all them more significant and heart-breaking. Humans are the greediest and most reckless creatures on this planet, once the richest and most beautiful in the universe – the only blue planet. I also agree with Anmol about the Ents – I’m also reminded of the song by Rush, which I shared in a post some time ago: .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnC88xBPkkc
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for your thoughtful words. Yes, it’s true. I recently watched a video on how trees communicate with one another. It’s incredible, really. I’ll listen to the song!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is such an evocative write, Linda! I fear the consequences of climate change are already here 😦 Poisoned air has reached parts of India.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Sanaa. It’s terrible. 😢
LikeLike
Trees speak the truth and it’s tragic the way we have blindly allowed things to progress in this direction. Technology, industry, greed….we’ve evolved in the wrong areas.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, we have. Thank you.
LikeLike
Thank you, Linda. We, as Stewards of Earth, should be aware of our physical home. But also our political, ethical, and other intangible qualities.
I was reminded of “The Cedars of Lebanon” which were proverbially destroyed for lumber use, their final blow being the railroad usage.
..
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much Jim.
LikeLike
this poem seems to assume they will fall before we do… I’m not so sure!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s true. I’m not sure either. Thank you Margaret.
LikeLike
I thought of the American Chestnuts a hundred years ago. One of the last of them formed the original foundation of my home. Now it’s hard to imagine a tree that could be used for foundations. They may evolve the ability to come back some day, with or without bioengineering.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, they may. Thank you!
LikeLike