Rainbow feather-bearers,
winged busy trilling wonders
rest on stout Sequoia shoulders
arcing out in providential shelter
with canopy of ancient splendor
slain when commerce cuts asunder
felled history’s immanence
felled unwritten covenants
felled ringed testaments
fell sight of heaven
fell curse east of Eden.
A fallen giant Redwood tree with 14 loggers around a large Redwood tree
Humboldt County, Lumber industry, circa 1905
Photographer: Jesse A. Meiser (1870-1939) Monterey County Historical Society
For Sherry's "Tongues of Falling Trees" earthweal prompt and De's dVerse Quadrille (44 words, "wing")
Dreams from a Pilgrimage 
So touching.
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Mastery of nature is the death of us … the “fell curse east of Eden.” A fallen Sequoia looks like a barbed whale tethered to the side of a ship. A victory for deadly candescence. I love the Hopkinesque lilt of the first stanza. You find such joy there.
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Goodness, that first stanza is so good. And then the repetition at the end. Excellent.
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It’s as if the settlers saw this land full of resources as a supermarket. They couldnt cut trees down fast enough and, in BC, it hasnt stopped, in fact is speeding up. Greed. Your poem is wonderful and the photo the sign of what was to come.
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Well done, Dora. Wowzers…
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we always think that we may do what we want for satisfaction today forget the future and act. Very well written
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Such a different take on the prompt word, but it is so poignant well done ❤
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I would like to give them the benefit of “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” But they know what they are doing and they don’t care. Very depressing to think how many living creatures were wiped out by humans. We used to have a giant dune here where the passenger pigeons lived. The sand miners took the dune away and the passenger pigeons are now extinct.
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We have broken so many of those covenants. (K)
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Dora Thanks for sharing this and you are an amazing writer. Anita
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It is so sad when these ancient forest giants are felled. The same thing happened here in Australia in the early days of white settlement. Your poem describes the carnage well.
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What a conceit to begin with, the idea of conquering nature. She can be insulted and abused, but she’ll have the last laugh every time, and do the occasional smackdown to remind us of our place. Oscar Wilde said that Americans are a people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. The image that you’ve included with your poem certainly illustrates that. Not that Americans have the market cornered by any means. It’s all around the world. Anyway, I’ve visited the redwoods in California and they have to be seen to be believed. Just amazing.
–Shay
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That tree is massive, so sad that they seem so proud to have fallen a tree. sigh
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The juxtaposition of the light bright of that first stanza with the heavy sadness of the last lends this poem its power. And that image is awful – I found a few similar pics of giant felled yellow woods from the forest here. Brutal.
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I love the song of your words, Dora, even if it is a sad song. I see there was a historical precedent for today’s actions!
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