The Plight of a City Tree - Poem on being Trapped Amidst Concrete

Despite its longing to flourish and bloom freely, the city tree remains confined within the cityscape, forever yearning for the freedom and vitality of a forest where trees stand together, the sun shines brightly, and the breeze carries a sense of liberation.

Photo by Mehmet Turgut Kirkgoz

In the city ground l lie,

between bonds of cement, my time goes by,

I stretch and twirl to reach for the sun, 

but there are tall buildings all around. 

They stick posters and drive nails through me, 

and build me a fence; I want to break free, 

they paint my bark red and white, 

without once thinking about my plight. 

They’ve grown me to adorn the place, 

even if it means destroying my face, 

what point are they trying to prove, 

those hypocrites who have nothing to lose. 

My leaves are sick, my bark’s a wreck, 

my roots are sore, my branches break, 

this is not my ground, this is not my soil, 

my dream to bloom, they are bound to foil.

To live in a forest amongst the other plants, 

where we aren’t placed five meters apart, 

where the sun shines bright and the breeze is free, 

but alas I’ll always be a city tree.

This is the lament of a city tree, forever destined to be a silent witness to the bustling urban life, a reminder of the cost paid by nature in the name of progress.

This city tree is a symbol of the hypocrisy that pervades its surroundings, as its existence is sacrificed to fulfill an aesthetic purpose. Its leaves wither, its bark bears the scars of mistreatment, and its roots ache from the constraints of the unfamiliar soil.

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