A beautiful monster stands in destruction
His home now a desolate plain
The last of his kind
A terrible crime
Resisting the toxic, wet rain

As tall as a house, stronger than stone
The humans destroyed all but him
His beauty, they swore
Was worth one more war
Nothing survived but the whispering wind

Destroying each other, do we really care?
Polluting the air and the sea
Don’t think it’s true?
Don’t believe what we’ll do?
Why don’t you ask the last tree?

© Daniel E. Barndt