Waller Creek 2

Well, I hope this isn’t too stupid for everybody. I quote Hans Kelsen’s perspective which says, " the perceived equality between men and plants and animals does not make society part of nature; rather it makes nature part of society." "Because the notion of an individual apart from the collectivity is a totally alien distinction..." Also Kelsen. I sit here today and decide to view my surroundings through a tree. I stand today, where I have stood for decades. I exist right here beside this stream of water. I’ve tried for all my years, to reach into the sky with my long branches to find the reason why I’m here. But I have not succeeded. Is this it? Is this where I am? Is there nothing else but to stand here and see so much go by? Can’t I be a squirrel or perhaps a bird? The squirrels tickle me when they run upon my branches, the birds fly so high and they serenade me with their songs. Oh, if I were a bird, I’d sing so loud and fly to the ends of the sky! Do I make them happy as they’ve made me, for brief moments, just by standing here? If I only could do more! I cannot see the sunrise as I used to anymore. Neither can I see it set. These wretched structures that rise higher than my highest branch have taken that joy from me. Now I only feel the sun’s colossal weight upon me throughout the day for I can’t feel the soft light that once fell on my leaves in the morning. I remember the rain. Ah, the rain. I thank you rain. You still make no exceptions of whom to fall upon. I enjoy every moment you fall; whether you’re in a gentle mood or even angry. Everyday that you do not come down, I yearn for a trickle from the sky. I desire to see all that does not move, be cleansed. I wish you could transform me. Maybe I could be a person. Like the many that pass and do not even look at me. They do not see my suffering. I wish I were one of them. They don’t seem to suffer like me. I don’t think they would like to be a tree. I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t want to be beside this running water. The creek, my sweet enemy! You give me life and yet you take it away slowly. You have eroded my ground and now my roots are exposed. I wish I were not here. Is this it? Is this where I exist? blah...