The Lone Sentinel
This is the winning poetry entry in the Pearl Beach Tree Day competition, written by Pearl Beach artist Mr Phillip Rich. It was submitted with a painting of the same name (above), which was runner-up in the artwork section.
Lone sentinel
Stretching limbs in comfort
No neighbours to squeeze and rob and steal
You are a lone sentinel
Clear views to distant places, far horizons.
Once you stood with cousins and friends
Indistinguishable in your sameness
Not seen for what you were
One of many blended things
A forest of trees.
Now you are surrounded by empty spaces
You look old and proud,
Healthy and alive with others gone
Free to grow wide and stretch and fill
A lone sentinel.
But alas, with time passed you now look out at nothing
Dry rank weeds replace pasture
No sheep now graze, no cattle either
Barren land, void of crop and life
Was this why the forest was cleared?
How long will you reign supreme?
Do I detect a dead limb or two?
Is age eating into dry sapless limbs?
Are some branches void of leaves?
Are your days numbered now?
What will remain when you are gone?
When dry dead limbs lie in dusty spaces
Bitter weeds claw at bare ground that once was shaded
Even ants and insects find no kitchen
A Barren place, gone, the splendour of the lone sentinel.
Phillip Rich, Pearl Beach