We are Rising Up
We are the trees,
Conifer, poplar, ash and oak.
We are the birds,
Jay, magpie, kingfisher, wagtail and raven.
We are the animals,
Squirrel, badger, vole, field mouse and human.
We are the soil,
Earth, leaf, fungi, microbe and worm.
We are the insects,
Butterfly, moth, ant, fly and bee.
We are the plants,
Beetroot, comfrey, plantain, dandelion and doc.
We are the elements,
Water, sky, earth, fire and void.
We the inhabitants of the Frome Valley, of this city, of this land, call on you
You, the Mayor, the partnership of WoE, the Councils of CUBA, big businesses and property developers of Bristol alike,
We call on you to change your mind, your priorities, your designs
Let us live in peace, in harmony, in tune,
Bristol needs us more than your bus routes for big business.
Hear us, listen,
Repent – change your ways
Whilst you can.
Heed our cry
Consider what you do, be careful, be warned
Whilst you can.
Desecrate, destroy and defile our nest and home, our kith and kin, and know that:
Our life blood, our sap, our young will cry out against you!
Expropriators and exploiters all,
Expect resistance.
Defilers of the land,
We will defy you.
Until long after you have joined those buried under tarmac in the grave, and
Until long after your schemes have collapsed,
We will demand atonement – that justice be done
Remember this and know:
The land is ours, and
We have the power, and that
We will rise again.
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Oak tree dawn
The Sun rises calmly up
In the narrow gap between the black tree line and the low lying bank of clouds that frame its horizon.
The fingers of its glory
Gently stroking the buds and branches of the trees,
Eliciting a chorus of joy from its feathered inhabitants
As they flitter and flirt with its tender embrace.
A robin rises up
From the cover of the grove below me to alight on a ichen covered oak branch
And sings…….to me,
Posing a beautiful question in the face of the desecration that is to come,
….tears mingle with the frozen dew.
A cold hard light catches my eye,
The glistening and glinting steel of the lock-on beside my head.
We are rising up.