Did you ask the trees how they’re feeling today?
Don’t you think they need a hand?
Not because the heaviest storm winds are making them sway
Or because time puts them through rot and decay
There is unwanted hate and intervention on man’s land
Land where they happen to be planted each time they meet a Black man
Did you ask the trees how they’re feeling today?
Don’t you think that they need an ear?
To speak about centuries upon centuries of dark faces
All brought to them to welcome their ends
Expressions of unrequited grief and fear
Tragedies deeper than their roots could ever grow
Demonic words of pain and death many would never know…
Did you ask the trees how they’re feeling today?
Reaching for the sky doesn’t mean they aren’t low
Terror-stricken fates at the ends of their limbs
Each time more inhumane. Each time just another “her” or “him”
Did you ask the trees how they’re feeling today?
Don’t you think they’re sick of the ropes?
The ones hanging the “Strange Fruit” Ms. Nina sung about
Popular among trees everywhere, mainly the depths of the south
Did you ask the trees how they’re feeling today?
Next time I really believe you should
The flesh of broken spirits haunt their dreams every night
Spirits no longer considering to be “just wood”
Without question, they are our daily breath
The life, the food, and healing rest
No longer considered just a pointless display
Did you ask the trees how they’re feeling today?
