ENVIRONMENTAL Poem: if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?, by Sophia Heilman

no.
the tree you saw in spring had green saplings,
and a nest slowly being constructed by a robin.

in the summer,
the color of her eggs will be a blue that you’ll never see perfectly imitated in your life.
and a yellow butterfly breaks out of its cradle
and shakes its wet wings for the first time.

in the autumn,
a family of squirrels races through the branches.

but in the winter,
the winds are fierce,
the air cold,
and the tree falls—
muffled by the blanket of snow.
and it doesn’t make a sound.

and worms make home in the bark
and bugs and critters and all things with too many legs squeeze their way underneath.
loving the dark and damp.
roots will squeeze till the empty tomb bursts with new sustenance.
they will raise their hands up to the sky and climb
even farther than their father did before them.

And you will return
and see a red butterfly
and think it is the same.