FAKE TREE...

 Fake Tree

It wasn’t a tree.

It was a fake.

A place to hide,

From which to observe the threat,

The enemy’s movements,

Encroachments, or incursions.

Voluntarily camouflaged

I felt however, horribly exposed

As I lingered, watchful,

Silent and hardly daring to breathe,

Or move…

I wasn’t a tree.

I was a fake.

A place to hide,

From which to observe the sett, 

The badgers’ movements,

Approaches and excursions.

Fundamentally camouflaged,

I felt however, terribly disposed

To feel wrong, fretful,

Fraudulent and barely able to breathe,

Or move…

Pete Ray

29th July 2021

Fake trees were used as observation posts in WW1, by the French army initially.

A dead tree in no-man’s-land was photographed and replicated by the clever use of metal and paintwork and the original would be replaced under the cover of darkness by the replica, in which a soldier could sit and observe the enemy…

Standing between two beech trees, I felt like a fake tree myself, as I observed badgers near their sett…