The Agonist

What says the tree to his friends the rocks?
When he lives and breathes and they sit and mock
And he grows strong for centuries long
But finally dies and begins to rot
'We will last intact this way!
And you my friend will soon decay'
'But i can breathe - am commensal;
the shade, the fruits, the nests on bough
And if, with this, my time finite
I'm glad to have spent it doing right'
But rocks prefer to simply sit
To win none, lose none, just exist
But nary should an ocean rise,
They'd become sand and dissapear with the tides
When trees ignite a cyclical life
From plant to animal to Earth and back;
Whom, even when their roots are plowed
Have left exponential impact
Steel, concrete, technology (etc)
May stand intact for centuries
I say with actions...
But faced with wind, flood or quake
Like toys will crumble, bend and break
... what you do with words
And so the greedy human kind
To conquer trees tall, mountains high
Erects gigantic splinters of steel
That shame forests, make mountains kneel
And progress spreads like moss on stone