Suddenly the Tree, Keki N. Daruwalla: Summary, Analysis & Themes

"Suddenly the Tree" by Keki Daruwalla is a reflective and symbolic poem about nature, destruction, and renewal. It portrays the transformation of a peaceful beehive into a scene of chaos due to human intervention. The poem touches upon deeper themes of displacement, transience, and the complex interplay between humans and the natural world. The hive slept like Argus its thousand eyes covered with bees. The light as it fell through the neem tree was a marine light, in which yellow moths set sail from one perforated shadow to another. The hive was mystic, a drugged mantra with its dark syllables asleep. As the afternoon wore on the honey-thieves came and smoked the bees out and carved out a honey-laden crescent for themselves and left a lump of pocked wax behind. The bees roamed the house, too bewildered to sting the children. At night they slept, clinging to the tree fork, now scarred with burns. Sparrows and squirrels, a bird with a black crest and a red half-moon for an eye…