Patel employs a sarcastic tone to describe the "crimes" of the tree in the first stanza. The speaker portrays the tree much like a parasite upon the earth, explaining that it "consumes" the earth and "feed[s] / Upon its crust." The tree grows majestic and strong because of years spent "absorbing / .... sunlight, air, water." The tree is thus personified as a creature that steals nutrients and resources from the earth and presumably from humans as well.

Humans thus set out to destroy trees, hacking at their bark. This is seemingly a punishment the trees somehow deserve because of their "crimes." Trees prove resilient, however, and work to heal themselves when humans attempt to destroy them.

Undeterred, humans go straight to the life source, ripping the roots from the ground as the tree then "chokes" in the "sun and air." Finally, the tree dies, withering away for its crimes against humanity.

Negative diction helps to convey Patel's sympathy for the tree, its attempts to live narrated with verbs in the progressive tense as the poem concludes. Despite the tree's desperate will to survive, it cannot overcome the power of humanity. The tree has committed no real crime; it takes only what it needs from the environment in order to survive.

By contrast, humans decimate nature with cruelty; they "hack" and "chop" and then "snap" and "pull" the trees out of their habitat, emotionless about the destruction they inflict upon the earth. The author's use of sarcasm therefore highlights the ultimate importance of trees as a crucial natural resource.