Ode to the Trees
I have a favorite trail
I visit it quiet often
It's paved and smooth and shaded
A place of quiet solitude for all.
One day a storm swept through town
Derecho is what they called it
Bringing winds of destruction
From one end of town to the other.
Once majestic mighty trees
Toppled down like tiny twigs
No matter whether big or small
How they fall, how they fall.
I visited my trail today
The first time since the storm
Piles of branches here and there
Cut and stacked with loving care.
Where wonderful trees once stood
Now there's only empty spaces
Once home to squirrels and birds
When I look at you, there are no words.
Like a war-torn ravaged forest
Trees ripped from the ground
Canopy of shade is gone
There's destruction all around.
Here there stands a resting place
Once a shelter for the weary
Trees have landed here and there
Your destruction makes me teary.
The whine of a saw hums in the woods
Where once was only silence
Everywhere I gaze there's fog and haze
Oh wait, that's just my own tears.
Oh, Joyce Kilmer, you had it right
When your wrote your poem called Trees
I still think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.
