The poet feels that a simple jab of the knife cannot kill a tree. A woodcutter may hack and chop it with repeated blows. Still it will not die. The tree seems to feel pain. Its bark bleeds. But it undergoes the natural process of healing. It withstands such chopping and hacking since it has its roots inside the ground. The part of the tree, lying close to the ground, produces fresh twigs and new branches that grow to the former size. The only way to kill a tree is to uproot it and wither it through browning, hardening, twisting and choking. The tree struggles hard to existence, but it ultimately surrenders to mans cruelty.
