A visual representation of "Survival" by Gillian Bickley
IP Chun Wing
New Territories Heung Yee Kuk Yuen Long District Secondary School
In my work, I try to record the growth of a tree with a timeline, from a sapling in a forest to a tall tree protecting humans with its canopy in a city.
Sadly, it has to face different challenges caused by urban development, for example, poor air quality and endless construction work.
The tree, however, chooses to stay loyal to this ‘concrete forest’.
My painting shows how hard the tree tries to survive in our city.
Through my painting, I fervently hope to raise public awareness of environmental protection.
While we are gaining a lot from the environment, do not forget to be thankful for the love and support from our loving nature.
Survival
Thank you trees for being there, for staying
when many of the friends you knew─
birds and butterflies ─ have gone;
for flourishing, even; growing old
where concrete buildings
are constantly knocked down.
How brave you are to survive
in a place where the air is foul
and the noise unnatural;
you who should normally expect
to stabilise your roots
in humid humming forests,
alive with the smells of
animal and vegetable life
(not the smells of mineral death, as here).
It is good to look down a street
and, amazed, to see you there,
solid and green and cool, uncompromised
by the advertising posters on your boles;
a promise
that, since there was a past,
there may quite possibly be a future too.
1982
Gillian Bickley
“Survival” was first published in For the Record and other Poems of Hong Kong by Gillian Bickley, p.25. Copyrights© 2003 by Proverse Hong Kong. Reprinted by permission of Proverse Hong Kong. Please approach Proverse Hong Kong by email (proverse@netvigator.com) for permission to use this poem or others in the collection.