It will have to go, they said,
as if it could pack up its roots
and move to another country
where the landlords were kinder.
Once, I saw a flock of herons
settle in that tree, wind
fingered its branches like a lyre.
All yesterday the chainsaws bayed
and bit into the bark
and the gum tree
knowing it was cornered
shuddered.
They cheered when it fell.
Now the trunk lies, segmented
among its own broken branches
a wooden caterpillar
with a monstrous head.
soon dentist bulldozers
will extract even the stump
and there will be more space
to plant kiwifruit
Carol Markwell
