Vahni Capildeo
For a never-to-be-finished farewell
In memory in false memory
The rain tree stood the saman
Canopied us the vast dome
Had not been cut down
O why
was it cut down?
Black gateway
Tearing the drive with amber
Dropping pods akin to figs
Dried and gummy
It ploughed up
the concrete into furrows,
a rough sea greyed to a halt;
We stood
would not have stopped there;
In true fact
would’ve tapped into,
hooked, root-shaken foundations,
Small leaves up above
Small-twigged memory spread
Over us
caused ruin;
What kept us back
Hooked and shaken
threatened
to drop a branch,
hit a child
As we were
hit the roof
Only going to say
Nothing
hit the T.V. aerial
BANG! e x p l o s i o n
O
why was it cut down?
Overhearable
You want
Loan words
the house to fall down?
There was another reason.
Tree wake and sleep
Tell me why
Live and die with me
it was cut down?
Tree wake and live
Strangers would park up
Sleep and die with me
to have sex
by our gate;
the tree had to go,
it hid them.
O –
Tree live and sleep
Die and wake with me