Arboretum

Arboretum by Karter Kane Reed I stood there staring My heart wrenched My feet like anchors Unable to turn away from the horror Behind the double row of fences topped with glistening razorwire Lay the greens and browns of trees Swaying in the majestic beauty And it pains me to see them caged that way Behind those fences Unable to breathe Suffocated It's inhumane! The loudspeaker comes to life, and a Voice tells me It's time to go The trees hardly seem to notice Oblivious to my pain And the tears that've streaked my face. They watch with seeming indifference The sorrow in my gait As I trudge back to my cell An hour passes when the electric buzz of my door's locking mechanism Brings me back from my far away dream Another loudspeaker crackles, this one saying The warden would like to see you Have a seat son, as I enter his office They saw you from the tower son, staring out into the woods What was it that you were looking at? Woods! I scream with indignation Those are not woods! Those poor trees! Caged by your fences! They're TREES! And what you've done to them is wrong! He chuckles a bit And smiles knowingly Understanding now my outrage Son, those fences are not around the trees They're around you