Ode To A Tree Poem by SANDHYA REGMI

Exposed to the tempest from time immemorial
But not beaten,
Battling against lightning thunder
Down the ages;
But not lost
Smitten by blistering rains
For centuries together,
But not shaken,
Shorn of all its beauty in winter
Yet reborn in grandeur in spring,
Spreading fragrance and freshness,
To earth under the azure sky;
Forever smiling even providing shelter
To criminals raising arms for slaughter.
Standing upright as an oak tree
On the mountains,
Smiling as a ‘Christmas Tree'
In its abode of snows
Dancing as a ‘Pine Tree' smeared
With sands all over,
In the grueling heat of the sun
You flap your wings constantly,
To provide pleasant whiff of air.
Inhales himself the dust and smoke
To bring lively breeze
And refreshing greenery in abundance.
Suffering from pangs of dislocation
The nectar bearing coconut tree
Still stands a hero as always.


To you he has always provided
Has taken nothing from you ever,
The people annihilated
By spate of river and floods
Depleted by earthquakes
And lost their hearth and home,
Shattered by all destroying fire
And failing to receive any succour,
From society and state
He has sustained them
As an affectionate mother
A lap full of tenderness
A cloak to naked body
And an embrace of friendship.
Enkindled himself to provide
Warmth and kindly light
Blessed you with food, shelter and cloth;
For every throb of your heart
Be proffered
Reassuring faith and hope
Service to humanity
Is synonymous to tree.

Terraces dotted with verdant trees
Boughs laden with mellowed fruits
Plates overflowing
Gorgeous sights, nature's bounty
Flowers - its riot of colours
And the nectar flows
Bent on rescuing our earth from global warming
Liberate from green house gas,
Common people aided greatly
Shunted our monsters of Environmental pollution
Served as a sentinel to your home.


To debar such elements
Show their ugly heads
Takes infinite pride to observe
Lies low sometimes in humility
Unfolds in untrammeled freedom
Is in tune with chirping birds,
At the first flush of dawn,
Singing with cooing winds
Whistling in ecstasy at twilight
Disguised himself as peach tree
Of dazzling brilliance in full bloom
Like pomegranate tree
That charms and transforms
Your courtyard into
A gateway to heaven.


He has preserved the civilization
You wanted to demolish
He has safeguarded your culture
That you paid no heed to,
Turned himself into
A museum classifying
Creatures and plant life.
It carries history on its back
Granting Buddha.
The ambassador of peace a platform
For serene meditation and wisdom.


Pulverised and transformed
Into a paper, that allows
Imprints of poignant poems
All over,
Provides vigour and vitality
Replenished energy divine throughout
Burning himself
Produces crispy currency notes
Putting himself to grindstone
And changed into smooth pulps

Decimates himself to provide
Lifeblood to very second, minute
And hour of your life
Overflowing your cup
With nectar-divine fluid
And strewing luck on the vast expanse
Of your forehead
In the tunefold song of his leaves
Are woven the heroic story
Of untold tales of suffocation woes
He is hungry but never steals
Tormented but never complains
Cringes and moans
But never laments
Hurts anyone, never
Assaults none ever
Stands committed to
His sound principle
Trusts himself and on his deeds
In the name of religion often
You commit a sin.
In the name of religion,
For a life after death
You wage a war.
Create havoc, a mutiny.
In the name of revolution
You bring delusion
On some flimsy pretexts
You raise hue and cry.
But poor friend of ours
Gets severed, cut, slashed,
Felled, torn, crushed, slit, broken
Ripped and split asunder
Into pieces
Even he tolerates
The buffets of misfortune
Remains beneficial to you
Till the bitter end.

He holds you in his arms
From birth,
A friend forever.
He carries your dead body
A strong base for you to
Fall back upon;
Solemnizes your last rite
Cremates your body honourably
On the bosom of nature
Lights the last lamp of
Your journey's end.
For his infinite goodness
Ever expressed you gratitude?
Never held your head low
In reverence before him.
Through its affectionate leaves
Fall the drops of sincere tribute
Pays homage respectfully
On your gravestone
Sacrifices its own existence
To make you live forever.
Duty bound if every individual
Plants a sapling,
Writes with indelible ink
Deep on his heart,
The greatness of a tree
Stops deforestation to protect
The health of our mother earth
Man will increase
His longevity
And earth
Will always be seen
In the prime of
Her youth.
A man's span of life
Is mere hundred years
One should know
By tormenting a tree
He increases his own misfortune
Starving and emaciating a tree
You shorten your own existence
From the wide fermament
You do not learn so much
As you do from earth
You can't learn so much
From a flower
As you do from a tree.

With flowers we adorned many
Expressed our love with bouquets
Now learn to share his despondency
Its distressful stories we should comprehend.
On this fertile soil
Learn to plant some seeds of creation
And express eloquently
Your deepest love from
The innermost apartment
Of your heart.
Its attributes of excellence
Learn to identify and emulate
For the enormous sin committed
Against the tree,
Learn to be penitent.
Disseminating seeds of forbearance
Like a tree
Learn the lesson of self-respect
And establish in yourself
Oh man!
The characteristic nature
Of a tree.

translated MB Pradhan