Under the Old Sampalok Tree

Dr Abe V Rotor

Century old tamarind. Iboy, San Ildefonso, Ilocos Sur.
NOTE: Tree was toppled by strong typhoon in c. 2005.  
It was made into furniture and firewood.

It matters not if it's the past, present or future
To believe in the trees that talk and laugh and cry;
To believe in spirits in them as their soul,
Our ancestors said, and sages would tell you why.

Time doesn't change, it only moves on and on,
Like the sun and moon, not even the steeled mind;
The earth that nourishes the living - tree or man
For change catches only those at the edge of time.

And here man creates another world of his own,
He cuts the trees, levels the hills, rapes the forest,
Drains the swamps, a Tower of Babel he builds
Where a tree once stood cradling a bird's nest.

It's a noosphere of lust and pride against order
Of the universe, the unity of all creation
In prayer and song, in dynamic balance supreme,
That spells salvation and eternity - or oblivion. ~