On Killing a Tree

On Killing a Tree
Did you see them kill that tree today? She asked, 
That's just the last rites they perform, he said, 
They killed it a while back, 
Starved it of attention, it fed on neglect, 
They poured arsenic into its roots, it drank that up,
Turned blue,
Then they forbade its nightly rendezvous with the moon,
That's when it turned its sights inward,
Living off the lamp that was lit within,
They built around it, created a conundrum, shattered its peace,
That's when i saw it weep,
It shed its bark and its leaves like one sheds skin, seeking liberation,
That too was not to be,
It stood there solitary, defiant in its misery,
It's addled skin exposed for all to see.
" I wish to die in the spring he whispered,
When the mango is laden with flower,
Or when the corn on the cob ripens and the Mahua reeks with juice"
Spring was a long time away,
They've cut it up today,
Light a fragrant pyre? oh, that they will...
-Vinny
10/12/15
‪#‎Vidrohi‬ .. Is dead, in the manner in which he lived, defiant