There is a tree on the road
I stand under it every morning
As I wait for my bus.There is a tree on the road
Branches, wide and broad
Looming over me
Protectively
Creating a broken sky
Cooler and darker
People stop to hide from the sun
stop on their morning run
For a moment of relief
Then resume
Refuse to acknowledge the shade
And move away quietly.There is a tree on the road
At night, it participates in the backdrop
As a darker shade of black
Cars zoom past
Blinding lights
Red Yellow Red Yellow
Leave behind a trail of smoke
A fading noise
An unnerving silence that stretches
Until the leaves shush it.
I stand under it every morning
As I wait for my bus.There is a tree on the road
Branches, wide and broad
Looming over me
Protectively
Creating a broken sky
Cooler and darker
People stop to hide from the sun
stop on their morning run
For a moment of relief
Then resume
Refuse to acknowledge the shade
And move away quietly.There is a tree on the road
At night, it participates in the backdrop
As a darker shade of black
Cars zoom past
Blinding lights
Red Yellow Red Yellow
Leave behind a trail of smoke
A fading noise
An unnerving silence that stretches
Until the leaves shush it.
There is a tree on the road
Branches reaching out
Into the tropical air of my city
to shade as many as it can
As if a designated job
Recognised by us
Only for a second.
There was a tree on the road
Yesterday it was there
Today, no.
I only see an ugly stump
Of 58 rings
and an incomplete one
Merely
A stamp of its existence
A remaining evidence
Of its murder.
They said they wanted to
Widen the road.
For the first time
As I wait for the bus
I felt the sun
Trying to burn my skin.