Cut Me Not Poem by Bashyam Narayanan

Cut me not

I know you are watching for sometime
Me, the little slender neem sapling
By the side of your compound wall

I could read your mind as well
As to whether to allow me to grow
Or kill me by cutting before I establish

You are mightier than us, small plants
You have every right to decide
Which one to grow and which one to avoid

You aesthetic sense should not be questioned
As you are mature enough to know
How to look good and what to maintain
Around your home, the heaven for you

But, listen to me
You did not know since when I am here

That crow picked up the ripen yellow fruit of my tree
But was not able to hold on to that
And the fruit got dropped from a height of fifty feet or so
By the side of your compound wall
The fruit gave way making the seed exposed to the earth

Luckily it rained for two consecutive days after that
And the seed found way into the soil
And sprouted within a week's time
For me to come out on the surface
With small tender soft leaves later

We do not grow fast
We take our own time to strike branches, leaves or roots
We are very choosy in selecting nutrients from the soil
And these are the resons why we grow slow
But, once grown we are firmly established

I am now ten months old
No one watered me
I stay unprotected against scorching sun
For the fun of it some of you plucked my leaves
To smell it and declare "It is neem"
Some of my just struck leaves
Were eaten away by ants
Simply because they contained water
I managed to stand up
And I am a two feet tall
Thrice-branched thin stem with a total of forty leaves
Hanging around all directions

Allow me to establish
I will not intrude your walls
I will not be a reason for a crack in any of your structure
I will ensure my roots go deep first and then spread
Instead of moving horizontally
I will grow tall and with my leaves
I will supply a good yield of oxygen from the
Surfaces of each of my leaves
I will grow in such a fashion
That my trunk does not rest on your wall
Or anything built in your home
I will provide with my well branched spread
Thick shades all around
And even in the hottest sun
You will not feel the heat inside your home

I know you will not mind
My pointing out that
You did not do anything in helping me establish
And so you do not have any right
To destroy me
I admit, but, you are capable of doing any harm to me

Let you not hear it harsh
When me, my leaves and other organs of mine shout
Cut me not