Ode to Huyang Tree

in the most remote corner
of the wild wild west of china
along the sharpened edges
of the great gobi
beyond the surging waves
hostile to humans and animals alike
where even the dry wind is choked
with sand dying of thirst
you are the only life form
with leaves green and shady
standing all by yourself
with no dignity
but full of pride

you are little known to foreign visitors
who find it hard to pronounce your true name
nor do you even have a definition
in the dictionary of colonists
yet among the native uighurs
you are worshipped with wonder
as a living legend:
you do not die
until after one thousand years
you do not fall
one thousand years after your death
and you do not decay
one thousand years
long after you finally fall