Remember Trees?

~ after Joyce Kilmer, and in the manner of 
a Craig Santos Perez "recycling"

 
In our lifetime I thought we'd never see 
lush forest stands dwindle to single trees.
 
Pallor of corals among the roots of banyan
that grew from seeds landing on other trees. 
 
For decades we looked at the skies all day
as if a god would come to wipe our sins away.

Gone, those gentle summers of fruiting
boughs; bird sanctuaries, the monarch count.  

What snow or hail has not laid bare,
wind and fire razor and shear.

Who remembers the origins of things, before
factories of plastic orchids and Christmas trees?