aka -- of the beginning and the end

Wrote this on the train today, and really, I quite like it.

I was originally thinking of a poem, but it rapidly evolved into a short story. The end is the most 'poetic' part of it really, but I'm happy with it none the less.

This is the first piece that's even slightly poetic that I've done in over two or so years, so critique is welcome. That said, I most likely wont be changing this; for, with this as my other poems, I wrote it as it meant something to me.

There is a little story behind this piece;
I live across the road from a house that I always quite liked. Is it a nice house? Big? Special? the answer to all of those is 'not really, no'. I liked it for one reason, in it's front yard there was a massive gum tree (yes, im in australia).
The other day, I awoke at about seven thirty (a problem in itself), to the sound of a chainsaw and mulcher. When I went outside later that day, I saw the gum tree, and every other tree in their front yard, gone.
Not just gone though, they had mulched them, for use on their other gardens.
When I saw this, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the tree, and the animals that resided within. To cut down SUCH a beautiful tree, merely to use as mulch for a garden that could never compare to it, is, in my opinion, a framing example of humanity.

BAH! enjoy the story/poem/thing!



by the way, I know there are a few, so here's MY definition of 'ode':

# A lyric poem of some length, usually of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal stanzaic structure.

This may not follow the structure, but I feel it still fits the nature of an ode.