Lyrics

The Ruined Trees

Trunks uprooted, lying on the harrowed ground
these fruit trees no longer take in sunlight and transform
it into life. They’re dead, torn up by the man who
advertises “Orchards Removed” on the fence
that follows the road I drive every morning.

Looking at these trees this morning
its sad. They seem so disposable, just another
commodity someone has no more use for.
Whether its because the price of whatever fruit
they bore has gone down or the property has been sold,
someone decided that they no longer needed to live.

When I drive this road in the dawning light, carrying disabled
adults to the center where they spend their days,
I always admire these trees.

My eyes scan the coastal foothills
the vineyards, the tractors, the newly plowed fields
and it makes me feel the wonder of dirt, leaves, crops
and farm tools; things that are real, hard, dirty, that we
seldom see, hear, feel anymore; the earth bare, without
concrete, yielding the fruit of a fieldworker’s sweaty labor.

I know that for someone the exclusive purpose for these trees
was perhaps to produce an income for their family
but for me they serve a purpose beyond that:
they teach us how to bear fruit, how to receive the sunshine
like a benediction, the rain like a gentle caress; how to
take the weather of life and let it make something sweet,
nutritious, beautiful, profound, reaching out from within.

The next day I drive by
and all I see is a pile of sawdust.