Earth Day and Arbor Day being celebrated this month, I could not let April 2024 go without posting a tree poem, so here goes…
Tree Love
There is a reason why
Pagans
find trees sacred,
Though not to neglect
other plants,
Trees are the embodiment
of love.
Trees start out reaching up
and seeking down
Accepting the gifts of the sky
and of the earth
To render them
into living tissue.
Growing, branches become homes
for birds, bats
and other creatures
Roots hold the soil together and
break dirt down
for worms and bacteria.
Reproduction offers food
of many kinds –
pine nuts and samara
apples and walnuts;
Leaves feed caterpillars, slugs,
deer, elephants and people.
Bole holes welcome squirrels
and bees
Trunks scratch the backs
of bears
Bark is the meal of beavers
and capybaras.
In death they become structures
or boxes or paper or
toothpicks or fire or
wooden spoons or...
Forest bound hollowed logs
are a refuge to shelter in
and a bed for mushrooms.
The lives of trees is the story
of giving
and that is
true love.
Carl Scott Harker ©2024
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Here is one of my many books of poetry available on Amazon that can be found here: Poems of Personal Poverty.