Too tall to be a stump?

Seven metres, maybe eight

But still cut off

chopped down

beheaded and undone

Severed in whatever prime

preceded this attack

*

Before first viewing,

(when walks had first become

a medication, necessary balm

as well as requisite for gaining

food and such without a car)

Before that time

this city park, it seems, had held a splendid tree —

thick, straight, substantial rough-clad girth —

before I first arrived there,

twelve months ago, that is.

When I first came it had . . . a splendid stump

beyond the fenced-in place for basketball

If stumps can be deemed splendid

Of course they can't.

*

First time I saw the sorry-looking thing

against pale winter sky

just had to circle it

for some strange reason

compelled to go out of my way to take it in

to view it fully from all angles

despite the slippery snow/sleet mucky slope

*

On the far side

something white, four-cornered

official city info sheet

nailed in, high up on the trunk

Bold black letters there

Asserting, firm but vague

the killing of this tree was necessary

according to the relevant authorities

Tree was dangerous, or could have been

Its growth potentially unstable, fatal risk

inherent in its limbs, now all sawed off and gone

And soon the tall ungainly stump would also be destroyed

A promised sapling would be planted in its place

All this to come no later than the month of March

*

Passing by most days

week by week

month after month

through January, February,

then designated March

I cringed each time

dreading the destruction of the stump

but though I could have

did not change my route

Each time I passed

it still stood there

truncated, wrong

still bearing on its rugged green-brown bark

its execution notice

*

part 2 of "Chopped down" follows