We watched with interest as crews labored,
Digging foundations,
Securing beams into place,
Smoothing concrete.
Installing windows and carefully,
Lovingly,
Stroking on the red paint.

The architect, we imagined,
Sought to communicate,
To share her brilliance,
To secure her legacy.
Surely, we thought,
This must be her
Masterpiece.

Nature, though, cares little for
The vanities of humanity.
Nature seeks out the
Heartbeat of the world,
Displaying her bounty
in abundance or scarcity,
Willy-nilly; when and where
she alone chooses.

Thus, the building –
That carefully constructed facade
Conveying an equally careful
Message to the neighborhood –
Lost its voice to the
Seemingly random presence
Of a single, scrawny tree.