Answer:
The root tops the trunk on this backward thing, that grows in the winter and dies in the spring.
I crawl on the earth. And rise on a pillar.
What do you have when you're sitting down that you don't have when you're standing up?
Halo of water, tongue of wood. Skin of stone, long I've stood. My fingers short reach to the sky. Inside my heart men live and die.
I am always hungry, I must always be fed. The finger I lick will soon turn red.
What covers its face with its hands, speaks no language, yet most known what it's saying?