Gieve Patel’s poem ‘On Killing a Tree’, records the poet’s genuine love for nature. It presents his deep concern for indiscriminate felling of trees. The tree consumes nutrients from the earth and zosorbs sunlight, air and water for years. Thus, the tree grows slowly. It is also a generous helper. But in return, it has to suffer much. It struggles for existence because of man’s cruelty. Hacking and chopping do not kill it. It bleeds and feels pain. Then it heals itself naturally. It produces new twigs and develops into a full grown tree again. But it has to finally surrender to man’s selfish greed when it is uprooted. Thus the poem focuses on the irony of killing a benefactor by its beneficiary.
