With hard hammers and soft glibness
They approached the forest,
It's encroaching majesty looming,
threatening to overwhelm

Sharp tools were used to trim,
To tear and rend through supple vine,
Felling great trees
As flames engulfed the underbrush

Each man and woman smiled,
exchanging thoughtful pleasantry,
Hi-fives and good-hearted jokes;
Completion of a hard days task

They returned the next day,
Trucks full of building materials,
Tools in rough calloused hands
Only to find the forest renewed

The forest had returned
With a mighty vengeance,
Unapologetic at it's thicker growth,
Looming over the workers

Greater tools of destruction were wielded
Attacking the forest,
Until barely a stem or stump stood
And cries of shared victory echoes

Yet the following day
The forest stood again, in quiet majesty,
Man and woman will never learn;
No matter the tinkering
We are not the masters of nature
But mastered by it