what does this poem mean? please help!!!?

Question

LOST BROTHER
I knew that tree was my lost brother
when I heard he was cut down
at four thousand eight hundred sixty-two years;
I knew we had the same mother.
His death pained me. I made up a story.
I realized, when I saw his photograph,
he was an evergreen, a brisdecone like me,
who had lived from an early age
with a certain amount of dieback,
at impossible locations, at elevations
over ten thousand feet in extreme weather.
His company: other conifers,
the rosy finch, the rock wren, the raven and clouds,
blue and silver insects that fed mostly off each other.
Some years bighorn sheep visited in summer—
he was entertained by red bats, black-tailed jackrabbits,
homed lizards, the creatures old and young he sheltered.
Beside him in the shade, pink mountain pennyroyal—
to his south, white angelica.
I am prepared to live as long as he did
(it would please our mother),
live with clouds and those I love
suffering w

Answer 1

I believe the author is trying to say that all living things are related [tree was brother; their "mother" is the earth or Mother Nature].
He also seems to draw inspiration from the tree's resilience when it was subject to duress [periodic dieback, impossible elevations, the suffering of those around him.]
Not bad; who's the author?

Answer 2

I think literally the speaker of the poem is a tree, who watches another tree be cut down and then reflects on the old tree's life. I think it can be figuratively turned into maybe a child looking at his or her grandfather, and thinking of all the things he did and the people he effected. "Mother" could be the family. Cutting down could imply death. The speaker says he entertained, and sheltered. "he was an evergreen, a brisdecone like me"...meaning same family. Everything sort of points at a metaphorical meaning. I don't no, that's what I got out of it. If you want me to explain my interpretation farther, it's no problem.

Answer 3

I think it's probably straightforward -

Poet imagines how it would be -

to be the brother of an (extremely long lived ancient) tree -

It's quite entertaining (stretches your visual imagination) to go along with him (to see the things the poet suggests his brother would have seen ) and imagine what it would be like to be such a wonderful thing -

however, after that, you start to wonder how you could be thinking these things if you, too, also, were a tree (!) and, certainly, to wonder how you were able to write about them (or to please your mother) -

however, since the end of the poem is missing, can't be sure...

Answer 4

the narator is probably the tree's brother. right. and the poem is describing how long the tree lived and how much it endured in the company of other living creatures. and then that tree is cut down. after that the narrator is saying he would want to live as long as his 'brother' tree and go through the same ordeals and that it would please his mother, which could be mother nature or the 'mother tree'.

Answer 5

I don't know? maybe this person had too much time on his/her hands? It is how ever a interesting..... poem? Did you say poem?