The Listening Tree

There once was a time I would wander the bush

And camp in the woods every night,

Watching the birds and the wildlife there

Was the thing that would give me delight.

I’d walk it with Jill or I’d go it alone,

It made little difference to me,

But out in the depths of the forest I found

A very unusual tree!

 

It wasn’t a gum or a stringy bark,

A cedar, an ash or a beech,

None of the common varieties

And neither a plum nor a peach,

The leaves were like arrows of silvery grey

Aligned, with each face to the sun,

And every so often they’d chatter, it seemed

Like the rapid rat-tat from a gun.

 

I’d never seen anything like it before

So I stopped, and I walked it around,

The pods full of seeds were still ripening there,

And fell, spilling seeds on the ground.

Then birds would come, feed in a frenzy and fly

Their bellies swelled out with the seed,

I wondered if nature had chosen this way

To propagate more of these trees?

 

I gathered some up and I took them on home,

And planted some back on the block,

I marked with a stake and I covered with loam,

Sat back to see how long it took.

I couldn’t believe it, the following day

They had sprouted up more than a yard,

A week, they had towered right over my head

And I felt I should be on my guard!

 

There’s something not right with a species that grows

From a seed to a tree in a week,

When Jill came around and she saw what I’d found

She just stood there, unable to speak.

The silver leaves chattered each time she approached

With a menace I’d not heard before,

A leaf seemed to fly at her, cutting her cheek,

And she wiped the blood off, and she swore!

 

‘There’s something rank evil in that silver tree,

Can’t you see how it’s twisting around,

Those leaves are like arrows, and sharp as can be,

You should yank the thing out of the ground.’

The leaves started chattering madly at that,

And something was chattering back,

Another tree, just like the one I had grown,

Had sprouted, along on the track.

 

I called a Professor Biologist in,

Professor John Ward, M.Sc.

He wandered around it and furrowed his brow,

‘It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen!’

The leaves started chattering, soon as he spoke,

Then fired off a host of its leaves,

They struck the Professor, bringing him down,

Unable to get off his knees.

 

We called in the firemen, called in the police,

They burnt that young tree to the ground,

But then in the air was a chattering, chattering,

Louder and louder, that sound!

And suddenly, every direction we looked

There were trees with those silvery leaves,

Surrounding our houses and lining our streets

Like a plague, or some dreadful disease.

 

We hide in our houses and whisper our needs,

For trees have grown up by each door,

A shower of arrows are loosed when we speak

So we crawl on our knees, on the floor,

They say that the army is coming to town

With bazookas, flamethrowers and such,

But while all these trees are listening, listening,

Better we don’t say too much!

 

We put on the radio, turn it down low

And we listen to news on the hour,

All that they talk of are alien trees

That came down with a meteorite shower.

They’re radioactive, and that’s why they grow,

So quickly, and glow in the night,

I should have known better, but who could foresee

There were trees that could listen, and fight?

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[patricia]

The flow has always makes me so happy. The tree reminds me i am small, that we reap what we sow, that our truth is not the only truth. Maybe it is the tree of knowledge we are afraid of, reality can hurt us like a slap from a branch sometimes. Love it, love it, love it.

[jonathanjaime]

kept me reading until the end =)

[minisla]

Let the birds have em I say

[TL Boehm]

This one reminds me of both the trees in the movie the wizard of oz and the ents in Lord of the Rings. I've been spooked by old stands of trees. I found this delightfully chilling.

[Devanshu Rajput]

wow.....a listening tree.....great concept presented with excellent rhymes and simple words....your starting of poem or to say a story was wonderful.....and ended it with a strange news.....but i was sad that they burnt the tree.....but became happy when they grew by each door.....a fun tale and very entertaining read....i bet that anyone with this concept firstly would try to write a story.....not a poem....you wrote the story in a poem form was really gorgeous....thanks for sharing the enjoyable piece of writing....

[Robert James Parfett]

Flows so well and keeps you reading right until the end. It wasn't at all what I was expecting after reading the title. Great stuff

[Emily Feret]

What a fun tale. Delightful!

[Kristallo]

Superb. You tell me the most unique and fascinating stories, traversing mood and genre with inspiring ease and finesse... this actually reminded me a lot of a chapter of an old Stephen King movie "Creepshow," where a meteor hits a lonely farmer's land and from it a deadly vegetation grows out of control, including all over his body, eventually killing him. Why do plants from outer space always have to be malicious? :P

Another fantastic write, David, you never fall short on originality or fail to weave a captivating tale. Great work!

[nwachukwu c]

Great writing. Well i could expect this from any other but you. It sounds like the story of corruption. Am sure the person who planted the quick growing tree of corruption, will be surprise at it rampart growth. Nice work

[Clayton Bardwell]

Perhaps they're just tired of the shameful way we treat them.