Heartwood poem

 Heartwood poem composed by Robert Macfarlane

Summary

This lovely poem is written in the voice of a tree and addressed to a woodcutter. The tree is asking the cutter to pause and consider: does he really want to fell her?

She asks him to put an ear to her bark, listen to the soft sound of the sap flowing inside the living tree. She asks him to listen to the gentle flutter of the leaves in the wind. Does he really want to stop the flow, the flutter, the sounds, and reduce the big, strong tree into a pile of timber and brash?

The tree compares herself to a number of roles and places. She calls herself a city of butterflies, a country of creatures a world in herself. She identifies herself as a maker of life, drinker of rain, breaker of rocks, caster of shade, eater of sun, time keeper, breath-giver and deep-thinker.

This way, the tree tries to impress upon the cutter the many roles she plays, and how great the loss can be when a tree is felled. A tree is mighty-it acquires strength and beauty over years-but it is also vulnerable-even a large tree can be felled in a very short time.

The cutter can, if he wants, destroy the world of the tree. But is he sure that he wants to? Can he 'hear' the tree? Can he feel for the tree? Does he have heartwood-or a heart? Do those people who sent him to fell the tree have it?

The word 'heartwood' means the hard and dense inner part of a tree trunk. In this poem, poet Robert Macfarlane uses the word to also mean the living heart-of the tree and/or human beings. If someone has heartwood, then they would not want to kill something as beautiful and important as a tree. The metaphors that the tree uses the things compares herself to-emphasise its contributions: the tree provides us with shade and oxygen; it is home to several creatures; an old tree is a witness of time and history. The tree's question-whether the cutter can hear her is important because on that depends the fate of the tree and indirectly, the fate of human beings. To 'hear' her, a person needs to use his imagination, compassion and sensitivity. The last line reminds us that it is not always or only the cutter who is responsible; anyone who decides to fell a tree needs to think and remember everything the tree has to say.