The Trees

(spoken)
Then there was the time that the earth was ruled by trees. There were emperor trees and empress trees. All trees were royalty. Their roots sank deeply down into the ground, and their branches reached higher into the sky than the birds could fly. And the trees all communicated with each other, and all of them together made the decisions for the entire planet. Their authority went unquestioned for many thousands of years. They were wise and benevolent rulers, and the world prospered.

But when the others came, they did not understand or recognize the power of the trees. They set up new systems that supplanted the trees and sapped their strength. And now the trees bleed rivers of blood down in the ground under our feet. There's an ocean of blood in the core of the earth, and now we write on trees. We make furniture out of trees. We clean up kitchen spills with trees. We wipe our spotty behinds with trees. We put trees in our houses at Christmastime. The trees say nothing, because now they are weak. But they know that our time will be brief, that we will soon perish and the trees will rule again, and the earth will be strong and beautiful once more. So, you see, it's not such a sad story after all.