Old Tree by Chris Magadza (Zimbabwe)

Old Tree

Old tree

Giant towering

Above the forest;

You

who saw the rise

Of ancient suns,

The fall of principalities,

The ageing of creation;

You

Who drank the drought

And bathed in mists

Of thousand winters

Cold;

You who heard

The rapture of mountains,

The breach of seas

And the angry thunder

Of broken waters

Icy;

Silent,

Timeless

In ageless majesty,

Sleepless guardian

Of mysteries old;

You

Whose confiding silence

Heard plotters

Whisper conspiracy

On your night probing branches;

You who heard

The savage angry cry

Of angel turned brute,

Seen the slaughter of

Father by son,

The rape of sister by brother,

The innocence of infancy

Starve to laughing demon;

Yet,

Every morning

A new orient bride

You kiss,

And sip the ancient nectars

from the earth's hidden veins;

and every blessing summer

Adorned in new blossom

More life

You bring on earth.