Goodbye, Camphor Trees, Goodbye

 Goodbye, Camphor Trees, Goodbye

Goodbye, camphor trees, you've served mankind well 

Since Aristotle and Hippocrates, 

In old villages and in the cities, 

Cure-all to islanders and the Chinese. 

Science has taken your place, it is time 

That you return to the forest and kin; 

Gardens and parks are no longer your home, 

And children do not even know your name. 

We've enough of your secrets copied 

In bottles and syringe and cellophane, 

In formulations that are hard to explain, 

Except in dollars and by those who gain. 

Go back to the wilderness away from man 

While there's still time, while your DNA's still the same. 

We'll call you again, if ever, 

Before sunset and the Armageddon.

Dying Camphor Trees, UST Manila - effects of global warming and pollution, 

and aftermath of typhoons and flooding.