A visual representation of "Survival" by Gillian Bickley
LEUNG Wing Lam
Sha Tin Government Secondary School
A huge tree is standing in the middle of a city full of concrete buildings, noise and pollution. Buildings on the tree represent the destruction caused by humans to the natural environment. Due to the foul air and unnatural noise mentioned in the poem, the tree is struggling to survive in the harsh environment. The pollutions caused by human activities have turned the sky from blue to grey. The colour blue signifies the pleasant environment where the tree can flourish, while the colour grey symbolises the impacts of noise and air pollutants on the environment. Despite the unpleasant conditions, the tree still stays loyal to us. We should always be grateful for its loyalty and protection, which allow us to ‘flourish’ in this city.
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.