I’d rather be a tree

(Translated from the original Spanish by the author)

I watch the pain, the violence, the death

And I tell myself I’d rather be a tree

I can no longer be human on this blood-soaked earth

I yearn to be noble, upright, bold, abundant

Let me be root, trunk and branches

I will transport water and minerals, I will give fruit and flowers

I will have function and purpose

I will provide oxygen, shade and shelter

To those who live no longer, to those who live in fear, I will offer comfort

Ceiba, baobab or birch

It doesn’t matter

Oh to be unequivocally good, determined, magnanimous!

I will anchor my roots in the earth and look up to the sky