In the center of the forest,
if a forest can have a center,
the grand tree rests.
Some days it towers
some days it judges
but today it rests.
It will let others handle the duties of the day:
funneling water to the fauna below,
letting leaves float down,
watching the affairs of the moss,
It is old.
There are days to take off.

It doesn’t notice as the human stumbles over,
looking every which way,
seeking some sense of order in the covered forest.
The tree pays little attention to the human
and vice versa,
even as the human sits down on its trunk
even as the human collapses and faints.

When the human awakens,
the tree takes little notice.
Fauna makes minor difference to the tree.
The human screams and cries
and throws itself upon the tree,
perhaps praying to it,
perhaps trying to destroy it.
The tree neither understands
nor cares.
Liquids escape the human,
some solids, too.

Eventually, the human leaves.
It will not go far,
but it will enrich the forest,
so that is good.

The grand tree remains,
and it will take
a different role
in the actions of the wood.
Today it simply rests.