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The Last Standing Tree

by Ess-Em

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about

The Last Standing Tree started as a poem written while facing north toward kunanyi and the Tasmanian bush, on 20/06/2025. It was the first of twelve pieces written during a two week creative writing holiday, it sat dormant for six months until music completed it on 3/1/2026. It is a self reflective, observational, mournful song about existentialism, climate grief, loss, reassurance, and empowerment. It is the first single and the last track on The Last Standing Tree Acoustic LP.

lyrics

I went for a walk today,
The sky was damp, so mild and grey,
The path’s been cleared in just 2 hours,
2 long days’ what it’d take us

Pending doom, precariously perched,
The wind blows strong across this earth,
No chill to my bones,
This is the small ones’ home,
Their refuge takes away my hurt.

So many have fallen,
So many hang high,
So what if they fall too,
We’ll never know where or why.
Their system’s worked out,
Some were meant to be,
I am steadfast -
The last standing tree.

The boys in blue - they hop on by,
The boys in red - up & up they climb,
The girls in brown - they’re about town,
The girl in black - has found the ground.

How do you all
Stand so long and tall?
Well I guess some don’t,
Some of you won’t.

So many have fallen,
so many will soon,
A patch of bare earth
Looks the same under the moon.
They’ll work it all out,
Someday they’ll lose their leaves,
They’ll be surrounded
By the last standing trees.

Prolific & unshifting now,
I’m solid, grand, & I know how.
It takes energy from all bad things
To repair a birds’ broken wings.
No unrest, some broken limbs,
Conditioned to low pressure systems.

Historically unchanging,
You can largely predict,
But sometimes ‘the weather’,
And something’s amiss.

I will senesce & I too will fall,
Like all those before me,
Who once were tall,
My systems worked out,
I was all I could be,
A stag, a new forest,
The last standing tree.

credits

released June 5, 2026
Piano/ vox: SM Marriott
Violin / viola: Olga Solar
Co-Produced by SM Marriott and Daniel Antix
Mixed and mastered by Daniel Antix on Feb/March 2026
Artwork by SM Marriott & Reese Geronimo

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Ess-Em Sydney, Australia

Sydney based folk/punk, 5 piece collective.

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