Poetree

Illustration by Nilapratim Sengupta

When I am out
Pitting
And planting trees
I rue the time
Away from my desk:
I could have been
Writing poetry
I think

When I am
At my desk
Writing
I rue the time
Away from the pits:
I could have been planting trees
I think

But then it strikes me
That in the battle against
Climate Change
Both trees and poetry
Are necessary

Who knows whether
My hundredth poem or
My hundredth tree
Will make me
The hundredth monkey