TREES

TREES

On this ‘World Environment Day’ let us read an old poem on ‘Trees’ written by an American poet, Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918).

            The poem is very short and simple, but provides a lot of aesthetic and emotional pleasure. Kilmer dedicated it to Mrs. Henry Mills Alden, (1836-1919), American author and editor of Harper’s Magazine.

The text reads as  follows:       

                                                                                      

“I THINK that I shall never see

                        A poem lovely as a tree.

                       

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

                        Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

                       

    A tree that looks at God all day,

                        And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

                       

    A tree that in summer may wear

                        A nest of robins in her hair;

                        Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

                        Who intimately lives with rain.

                        Poems are made by fools like me,

                        But only God can make a tree.”

The last two lines have also found a place of pride in several books of quotations.

5^th June 2010                                  G. R. KANWAL