Trees

Standing tall, we’re watching you

As you tread this shadowed land

With green grass and flowers blue –

Standing tall we’re watching you

In the wood where all roads end.

Standing tall, we're watching you

Trees we are and we are old,

Older than your kind can be,

Older than the oldest world –

Trees we are and we are old,

Grimmer than the deepest sea.

If you enter, you must leave/Something for the trees to keep

Enter now, if you still dare,

If you do not fear to fade,

If you wish to cease to care –

Enter now, if you still dare,

If you’re bold and unafraid.

It is certain – you will change,

Old beliefs will seem untrue,

Former wishes will seem strange –

It is certain – you will change,

Those that come here always do.

You will change, but do not weep,

If you enter you must leave

Something for the trees to keep –

You will change, but do not weep,

You’ll forget and cease to grieve.

Walk in now into the night

Where the wisest trees still stand,

Branches blocking life and light –

Walk in now into the night

In the wood where all roads end.

Copyright Simina Lungu 2025

Originally written in 2009, a fragment can be found in "A Song for Rust-City" published by Crossroad Press