The Forest’s Farewell”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 190, 13 August 1938, Page 12

The Forest’s Farewell”

God said to man, “Thou shalt net kill,” Yet man kills trees to feed his mill Year after year, the forests fall, Shall we Exterminate them all To join their forebears of the past, Or shall we stay the axe at last? Could forests have spoken before they fell This is the story they would tell. It was our destiny at birth To multiply and to fill the earth, To help the Sun fulfil God's plan, All for the benefit of man, To do our share to make things good. The air, the seasons, soil and food, ' Providing shelter, shade and home To birds and reptiles, beasts that roam. from morn till night, and night till morn And ever since the world was born Our forest forebears—noble band, Preserved and served all life on land; Now they are gone beyond recall, We, their remnants, 'ere we fall God's own warning words would say, “Revenge is mine, I will repay.” Trees need the soil, the soil needs trees, Both need sunshine, clouds, rain, and breeze; Their pact destroyed, the angry Sun Will wreak his wrath and pity none; Will starve and scorch and kill the seeds. The fruits, the flowers, the grass, the weeds. Will raise fierce storms to flood the land And change its soil to desert sand. The land will then deficient be, — Its goodness washed into the sea, And Nature's balance all upset, Will death, decline, disease beget Unless men cease their senseless greed And spare and grow the trees they need; For every tree on duty still. Is worth a million in the mill. From trees and plants and dust and mud, God makes bone and flesh and blood. How can His Plan be still fulfilled When trees and plants and soil are killed? Let us our debt to the trees repay, Let us each promise on Arbor day, Forests, you mean so much to me. I will guard with reverence every I tree. —Thomas A. F. Stone.