Self-Healing Power of Trees

And if it fails...
a woodpecker chisels the dead heart,
an abode for her young's need;
home of the owl, roost to a passing lark,
sweet is benevolence indeed.

Dr Abe V Rotor

    Black-rumped Flameback Dinopium benghalense in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
JM Gang, Internet

  
New shoots emerge to eventually replace the lost crown 
of a mahogany tree (Swietenia macrophylla). A lone shoot 
rises from a cut branch of a fire tree (Delonix regia), UST
Manila

Rot starts at the center on an old cut, while
healing takes place peripherally in a camphor
tree. Annual rings show that the branch was
five years old when it was cut.

Normal healing process showing actively dividing cambium
layer which will completely cover the wound. Note numerous
dots on the newly formed layer. These are breathing pores
called lenticles, counterpart of stomata on the leaves.

   

Completely healed wound. Scars of vandalism. Law prohibits 

posting of advertisements on trees, so with other destructive means

Delayed healing exposes the wood to rot and
eventually form a hollow - the result of a
typhoon which ripped off a major branch
from the trunk.

EcoSanctuary - Laboratory of Nature

EcoSanctuary - Laboratory of Nature  

It is a replica of the natural world unspoiled by man, a patch of the lost Eden. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Bird of Paradise (Heliconia latipatha Benth) Family Heliconiaceae

They say you are a True Bird of Paradise

left after the Fall,

by one sweep of the mighty sword

that smite the sinful;
 truly you bear the color of that sword

as golden as your soul.

Camia (Hedichium coronarium) Family Liliaceae

Wings, wings - they are not all that fly; 

they fly in the mind, fragrance

riding in purest colors, as dewdrops

become nectar, and nectar to dewdrops

greeting the morning sun, 

shrinking, sinking and gone.

Lotus [Nelumbium nelumbo (Linn) Druce] Family Nymphaeaceae

If white is pure,

then what is color?

Mayana (Coleus blumei) Family Labiatae

Dress up quickly and beam with valor; 

youth is fleeting for the frail and bold;

play with the sun in kaleidoscope color,

after the equinox the wind grows cold. 

Red (Anthurium sp) Family Araceae

Mimicry is the name of the game,

all in survival's name -

defense and offense,

conceit and deceit - 

cloaked in beauty or nonsense.

A wild orchid

 In the wild beauty is simple and true.

Wild Bromeliad, Family Bromeliaceae

The forest would be dull without you, 

you hang on limbs, blossom on tree;

in your crown some little ponds lie,

oasis to fish, frog and dragonfly.

Wild is your character like your domain,

save the pineapple, your only kind,

released from your ancient gene pool,

tamed and loved by mankind.

 

 Gumamela, Centennial series (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn) Family Malvaceae

Like a giant bell spliced,

once adored for its sound,

a call for a nation's stand,

and pride of a crown.

 

 Gumamela, Centennial series (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn) Family Malvaceae

If only blood can wipe out blood,

and only tear can heal;

where is joy in reverence, its glory,

and a heart set free?

 Gumamela, Centennial series (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn) Family Malvaceae

Frolic while it's May,

before the sun's last ray;

blessed is the blossomed hour,

for this ephemeral flower

Mulberry (Morus alba) Family Malvaceae

In perfect mimicry

of friends and foes, 

winged and hoofed - 

they pair your genes;

they spread them

over the land

in pure chance -

and biology.   

 

 Screw pine (Pandanus sp) Family Pandanaceae

Go forth and multiply, 

as your body dies bit by bit,

your genes are passed on

to your offspring, 

before the tomb is sealed. ~

A Critique on the Lost Eden

A Critique on the Lost Eden
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog

Light in the Woods, acrylic, AVR 1994

Forest Fire, Acrylic, AVR 1995

A long list of vanished and vanishing species - even those that have not been discovered and named – haunts the human species, Homo sapiens, the most intelligent of all creatures. If this is not an evidence of the original sin which he continues to commit since his early ancestors were driven from Paradise, then we are merely being led to believe in something bound by deep faith, and in something supernatural.

Every time we destroy a forest, a coral reef, or grassland, we are repeating the fault of our ancestors. The biblical story is fiction if we fail to grasp its essence. True, exile comes in many ways. But definitely, if an ecosystem is destroyed, if it loses its capacity to provide the basic needs of its inhabitants, starvation, death, and other forms of deprivation follow. Does this not trigger exile – or exodus, which is the ultimate recourse for survival?

Here is a poem I wrote upon reaching Tagum in Davao. It is about the destruction of a forest I related in an earlier article.

The Lost Forest

Staccato of chirping meets the breeze and sunrise,
Waking the butterflies, unveiled by the rising mist;
Rush the stream where fish play with the sunbeam
And the rainforest opens, a stage no one could miss,
With every creature in a role to play without cease.

John Milton wrote his masterpiece of Paradise,
While Beethoven composed sonata with ecstasy,
Jean Fabre and Edwin Teale with lens in hand
Discovered a world Jules Verne didn’t see,
But found Aldo Leopold’s ecosystem unity.

For how long to satiate man’s greed can nature sustain?
It was not long time ago since progress became a game,
Taking the streets, marching uphill to the mountain,
Where giant machines roar, ugly men at the helm -
Folly, ignorance and greed are one and same.

AVR, 2001

In 1960 Philippine Dipterocarp Forests occupied almost 14 million hectares. What is left today is only three and one-half million hectares. The average rate of decline is over 2 percent annually. What is more alarming is the decline in the volume of trees in the forest which around 6 percent in the last 30 years. All over the world, annual deforestation represents an area as large as Luxemburg. This means every tick of the clock is a hectare of rainforest permanently erased from the globe.~

The Highwayman Robot

Don't be a victim of a highwayman robot.
Dr Abe V Rotor 

Robot at the intersection of Edsa and Quezon Blvd carrying a collection box, Photo taken January 14, 2018, around 2 pm, 

Traffic aide, alien, fashion model on the highway;

        movies come alive in our time;

Return of the Jedi on the loose that audience love 

       yet fear outside its confine.    

Fantasy gone too far, robot becoming highwayman,

       robbery or mendicancy,

Ducking the law. belittling dignity in technology, 

       force or deceit for easy money.   

Next it could be anyone, mimicking Harry Potter,

       the religious and the sages; 

Highwaymen, in camouflage becoming a plague

       today like in the Dark Ages. ~  

Author's Note: Article inspired by The Highwayman a narrative poem written by Alfred Noyes, first published in the August 1906 issue of Blackwood's Magazine, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Highwayman is included in English and American literature taught for almost two generations in Philippine secondary and tertiary schools.

Initiation into a World of Fantasy

Initiation into a World of Fantasy 

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Carnival at the Sky Ranch, Tagaytay, March, 24 2013

          Can we reach out for the stars in neon lights?  

             Where have all the stars in heaven gone?

But strewn away from the sight of man,

           and only in our pain that they light again.   

Humanoids, Sky Ranch, Tagaytay, March 24 2013 

Living robots these humanoids resemble,

              in grotesque looks and cult in years ahead,

       now in our midst, invading the youngest mind,

         a demigod they enshrine even the dead.        

Tagaytay Zoo, March 24, 2013

           More lions in the zoo than in the wild is man's folly

              to save the endangered species;

           and countless more in books and films and clay,

                   in the name of progress and glory. ~