Poem: To a Tree
Recited by author Tim Armour at the Tree Society of Creemore’s Food and Foliage fundraising dinner at Station on Nov. 3.
A maple pined that ne’er it might
Inspire a poet’s heart to write.
A stunted sapling rooted down
In shade beneath a forest’s crown.
Until one day there came a man
With a shovel and a different plan.
He toiled long and hard that day
To excavate the earth away.
Then roots exposed to open air,
He yanked that young tree out of there
And carried it back to his home
Where soil was deep and rich in loam.
Its roots once more beneath the earth,
That little sapling saw rebirth.
With full sunshine to utilize
It now could photosynthesize.
Stretching skyward with its boughs
Its rootlets delved to water dowse.
In time that tree grew strong and tall
With foliage rich to shade us all.
The family pets that passed away
Were laid to earth beneath its sway.
With boughs upraised as if in prayer
It hands their souls into God’s care.
Each autumn as the days grow short
A crimson mantle it will sport.
As winter ends and snows retreat
Then flows its sap so clear and sweet.
Does any other life exist
So typifying the altruist?
So much it gives without demand
I wish that when my time’s at hand
My body could be laid to rest
Beneath that tree I love the best.