.
In a secret clearing the chestnut grows
Survivor of total blight
There are no more that I know
Lucky lonely tree straining for the light
A brutal war left nothing but scorched earth
Now all the children fall ill.
Mawing roots poisoned with dearth
Even the ancient ones grew deadly still.
"Burn down that tree, spare not a single bough."
Flagrant self immolation;
Dreams and hopes ablaze, What now?
But dying light and no more munition.
From the ashes a phoenix didn't rise.
A tree falls in a forest
Slowly and silently dies.
Pestilence, plague, death's caress
Once long ago we failed this test.