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| Author’s note: As part of her Earth Day-Sing for the Trees campaign, Susan Hale invites people from around the world to sing to their special trees to help raise awareness about deforestation. |
If you listen you can hear
the trees singing
boababs & kauri
sugi & sugar maples
their voices
rise in harmony
Norway spruce & sequoia
ginkos & elms
across the wide round world
yews & oolines
Persian mulberries & pomegranates
one steady stream
magnolia amazonica & aspen
wattle trees & oaks
one impassioned aria
crab apple & peach
olive & fig
singing, singing, singing
almond & apricot
wild cashew & carapa
to us
black walnut & cedrela odorata
mahogany & beni kawa
of peace & love
joy & justice
Divi-divi & wabito
amla & okagami
of sorrow & solace
laughter & lullabies
Chinese catalpa
Buddha coconuts
reminding us to
balsam & fur
cedar & chestnut
sing with them
pawpaw & persimmon
leatherwood & larch
breathe in
breathe out
kapok & karri
willows & birch
sigh
dance
ghost gum & guava
maiden’s blush & mangosteen
play
cry
avacado & acacia
banana & buckeye
save our lives
sumac & satsuma
sassafras & silverberry
save our planet.
Mary Saracino is a novelist, poet and memoir-writer who lives in Lafayette, CO . Her most recent novel, The Singing of Swans (Pearlsong Press 2006) was a 2007 Lambda Literary Awards Finalist. Her short story, "Vicky's Secret" earned the 2007 Glass Woman Prize.
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