Tree Rebellion

by Abel Abilheira

Not only the human being rebels;
when the trees saw
what had this city turned into
they came en masse from distant lands
on the beaks of the birds,
rocked by the river or in the lap of the wind,
in the gut of running mammals
and settled in the barren brick streets
to oppose this dead mineral world
they brought the color, the murmur dance
of its branches playing with the air
thus the tree people
formed by chestnut and beeches,
oaks and maples
cherries and birches
it planted its feet in the fertile soil
hidden under the pavement
and spread life in the brick graveyard
and the hundreds of ethnic groups thrown here
washed away by the tide
we clung to its leaves
and could keep breathing
far from our territories