The Forest: Destruction

Carver Lawson, Special Projects Manager

The lumberjack visited my forest often,

I’d see him sweetly swing that axe

and for miles you could hear the thundering whack. 

I’d always admire

how he could chop down

any earthy spire

and I thought “what dedication he had to show up everyday”

but it was only when it was too late

that I saw the price I would pay.

I noticed a wicked grin

as he cut my greenery paper thin 

and he got bold, no longer taking one tree at a time but thirty-three

—that day he brought a whole damn machine to decimate me.

and how could I not have seen these callously cruel crimes 

in all those traitorous times

he’d take and take 

until I had nothing left to give

his fortune was always at my sake,

to him my prosperity had to die for his to live.

How could I not see it

in the way he’d cut to my forests core

removing thickets meant to keep him at bay, all for him to ensure I had nothing more.

But since him I’ve regrown,

as nature always does,

and I’ve been shown

visions of infectious insects 

that swarm his mind

eating away at stolen solace

and now I can finally find

the justice in all of this