On Killing A Tree :- Gieve Patel

On Killing A Tree

Gieve Patel

Gieve Patel (1940-) is a renowned Indian poet playwright and painter.  In his poetry, Patel uses a syncopated rhythm.  He brings the flavor of everyday's speech in his poetry.  Some of his notable works are Mirrored, Mirroring (1991), How do you withstand, body (1976).  The poem is about the harm done to the environment by human beings.  In a voice of sarcasm and irony, the poet speaks of man's violence and impatience towards nature.  The poem is written in free verse.

 It takes much time to kill a tree,

Not a simple jab of the knife

Will do it. It has grown

Slowly consuming the earth,

Rising out of it, feeding

Upon its crust, absorbing

Years of sunlight, air, water,

And out of its leperous hide

Sprouting leaves.

So hack and chop

But this alone wont do it.

Not so much pain will do it.

The bleeding bark will heal

And from close to the ground

Will rise curled green twigs,

Miniature boughs

Which if unchecked will expand again

To former size.

No,

The root is to be pulled out -

Out of the anchoring earth;

It is to be roped, tied,

And pulled out - snapped out

Or pulled out entirely,

Out from the earth-cave,

And the strength of the tree exposed,

The source, white and wet,

The most sensitive, hidden

For years inside the earth.

Then the matter

Of scorching and choking

In sun and air,

Browning, hardening,

Twisting, withering,

And then it is done.

Summary of On Killing a Tree 

The present poem posits a scathing attack upon the human action of reckless cutting down of trees . The poem is a lyric where Patel raises an angry voice against deforestation . The poet considers the cutting down of a tree to be a violent ritual . He looks upon the felling of a tree as a murder . It is a murder which is heinous in the slow drawing out of the action . The poet casts a pathetic glance at the growing up of a tree by deriving nourishment from the land and the sky . The poet thinks that human beings harbour an intense dislike for a full - grown tree . Therefore , a tree is cut in a cruel process that reflects the merciless mood of the cutter . The poet says , destruction of the tree is not complete by the mere felling of it . The tree is removed from its place of birth by vengefully uprooting it and leaving the stump to wither .