old knowledge like the buried roots of trees
here sun beats down
on scorched earth,
too dry for plant and animal,
no tree in sight,
become a desert ...
yet deep in the parched ground
where farmers once raised beef to sell abroad
then left the land they'd ruined,
the roots of trees they felled remain,
invisible, waiting to grow again -
for, it seems, however many times
the trees themselves
are felled, their generous roots still live,
and, if allowed, will shoot again,
give shade and water, food, life and hope.
they often say old knowledge
is of the past, outdated, mere superstition
they claim their science is precies, infallible,
sole path to the future -
but what do the roots say?
we will be trees once more
they will whisper to the listening stars:
to have a future, you must hear the past;
the soil of insight
must be enriched through time -
with living roots
still deep in earth
we wait our time
to return.
Helena Paul