(You can hear it here, but this is not really singing, just yelling at different frequencies)
Just a Stump Song
Sit and kindly listen to my story of a Tree and a boy and a girl and a vision and me.
About a hundred years ago, maybe a little more,
a squirrel picked up an acorn and he made a little bore
and he packed it in his pocket of the loving Mother Earth
and he ran away and left it for the miracle of birth.
Oh, he’s got vision.
Then the pocket puckers open and the Tree begins to sprout
and it grows into the sunshine and her limbs are branching out,
and the laughter and the learning that collect within her shade
are included in the rings within the heartwood she has made.
Oh, she’s got vision.
Then she grows into the heavens and she grows into the Earth
and she grows into the memories recorded in her girth,
and the people gather ‘round her and admire her, ‘till her age
causes lofty limbs to wither to a precarious stage,
and
a man looks up and sees a limb that one day
and for the sake of safety has our Tree cut to the ground.
Oh, he’s got vision.
And the people saw a shadow instead of the mighty Tree
and they asked themselves and others if this was necessary,
and instead of talking ugly and continuing to grump
they formed a group to renovate the Tree’s remaining Stump.
Oh, they’ve got vision.
And instead of using chainsaws and instead of going fast,
they chipped away with hand tools that would make the process last
so that everyone that wanted to contribute to the Tree
would have time to take advantage of the opportunity,
because things don’t have to be completed right away, my friend,
when the process is considered to be greater than the end.
Oh, tunnel vision.
And they worked between their duties to their teachers and their peers
and they found that their commitment may take a couple of years,
and they left it for the summer to return to work that fall,
but they hadn’t met a deadline they knew nothing of at all
so the stump was ground to bits and then the ground was smooth and clean
and the Tree to be remembered is now lost within the Green.
Oh, where’s the Vision?
Now it really, really bothers me and now I wonder why
people look right through each other when they don’t see eye to eye.
And I wonder why I’m singing this peculiar little song
because I’m not really saying if I’m right or if I’m wrong.
I’m just letting out some sounds because I’m wanting to be heard
‘cause it’s not about the Tree as much as it’s about our Word,
for all Living Things must die, this means the Humans and the Trees,
but our Word lives on forever, longer than our memories,
and our Word is our beginning and our Word
and our Word is only Good if we can keep it True, my Friend.
So to those of you I promised would have opportunity
to return to work and finish the Memorial to Our Tree,
I ask for your forgiveness, and my throat contains a lump
as my Word disintegrated with the grinding of the Stump.
Oh, I need Vision.
June, 2006