A Triptych
I. Lyric
We are the elder trees.
We speak through roots
and through fungi beneath the bos
beuk, eik, wilg
held by slow gradients of green
from leaf to canopy shade
Below the grond
wet loam, peat dark-breath
speech/words do not form here
only transfer
through schimmel threads
in rot and humus
the mycorrhizal network
continues without voice
One here, does not guide growth
rather, it holds its conditions
carbon when shade is heavy
warning, when an unseen shifts
change before experience
To younger trees
this language
is alteration of direction
a leaning upward
without command
One does not touch form
only the field around it
In every system
forest or human
elders are structure
held over time
they remember collapse
so collapse, does not arrive as new
without them
limits dissolve into speed/action
and, is thus mistaken for life
with them
what breaks is slowed
what changes, carried forward
A duration
made visible in wood
through wortels and schimmel
through bos and grond
you answer us
not in speech
but in growth
to forget elders
is to forget the weight
that keeps the world in place
II. Compression
beuk
eik
wilg
green in layers
leaf to canopy
grond
wet loam
peat breath
no speech
only transfer
schimmel
threads without voice
rot
humus
continuation
mycorrhizal network
carbon
warning
shift
before naming
bos breath
dark holding light
younger trees
upward lean
no command
growth altered
conditions moving
elders
structure
collapse remembered
before collapse returns
limits held
without elders
speed without boundary
no ground
wortels
schimmel
bos
grond
growth
III. Residue
beuk
eik
wilg
grond breath
schimmel holds
no speech
carbon shifts
warning before light
elders
structure
collapse remembered
without them
no limit
bos continues
growth
The Elders is an abstract triptych and an ode to trees, drawing on the Dutch tradition of minimalist poetry through reduction, repetition, and sparse language. Dutch words such as beuk(beech), eik (oak), wilg (willow), bos(forest), grond (earth or ground), wortels(roots), and schimmel (fungus) connect the poem to the language and landscape of the forest.
The three sections, Lyric, Compression, and Residue, progressively reduce the language and imagery. Lyric establishes the full voice and landscape of the elders and the forest. Compression distils these ideas into their essential words and relationships, while Residue leaves only the elemental fragments that remain. This gradual reduction reflects the poem’s exploration of memory, transmission, and what endures beyond spoken language.
At its heart, the poem asks us to recognise trees as our elders, holders of memory, knowledge, and continuity, and to etch into our consciousness that they should be protected with the same care and regard we afford human life.
—
Meg Dolan is an Australian self published author of Reflective Poetry (2017), with work published in international journals including Tipton Poetry Journal, The Sunflower Collective, SKYLIGHT 47, Lifelines at Dartmouth, Nature Writing, Eureka, ditch, Disabled Tales, and The Copenhagen Review. Her work has also appeared in Queensland newspapers and been positively reviewed by The Red Room Company. Meg writes about memory, perception, lived experience, and the natural world.
