THE MINERAL'S DREAM

by Shaun Lawton 

When a tree falls in the forest

Is it mourned by the standing survivors

The sound it made as distinct 

As their memory of a thunderclap?

The question then becomes 
Not whether a tree makes a sound
If it falls without anyone around
To hear it, but rather, is there even such
a thing as the ground when that appears
to be forged from our perception?

Not even the forest suspects this much,

Least of all the trees, each one of whom, 
For instance, may believe they are the king 
Of all existence. In whose dream, then
May a leaf be heard to fall, again? 

Listen up.  Without you,
There can be no story.  

A very old tree totters over 
Into the wildwood far away
With a sound approaching 
The memorial of thunder
To its standing survivors
Outspread in their foothold
Through funereal compost
Melding with mossy fungus 
Under the loam of bedrock
Adding another microtone 
To the growing forest song