The Heart of the Tree:
Henry Cuyler Bunner
1855-1896
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants a friend of sun and sky;
He plants the flag of breezes free;
The shaft of beauty , towering by;
He plants a home to heaven aneigh;
For song of mother-croon of bird
In hushed and happy twlight heard;
The treble of heaven's harmony;
These things he plants who plants a tree.
What does he plant who plants a tree;
He plants a cool shade and tender rain,
And seed of bud of days to be,
And years that fade and flush again;
He plants the glory of the plain;
He plants the forest's heritage;
The harvest of a coming age;
The joy that unborn eyes shall see-
These things he plants who plants a tree.
What does he plant who plants a tree?
He plants, in sap and leaf and wood,
In love of home and loyalty
And far cast thought of civic good-
His blessings on the neighborhood,
Who in the hollow of His hand
Holds all the growth of all our land-
A nation's growth from sea to sea
Stirs in his heart who plants a tree.
We were watching an episode of Leave it to Beaver, and MIss Landers, the 4th grade teacher, was teaching the children this poem. I remember those school days and still love poetry to this day. I prefer the old school poetry. Modern poetry is not my favorite thing.
Anyway, I really thought about this poem since many trees were damaged or have fallen, due to the heavy snows during the blizzard. We have many old trees, primarily pine trees, in our yard. Three in the backyard and one skinny tree that needs to come down One pine tree on the front side of our house. I don't think the neighbor who went around planting these trees in this neighborhood realized, old trees vecome diseased, or weak and they need to come down. Prehaps not like a forest where thinning the trees in commonplace to acquire new growth but nonetheless, another circle of life in the life of trees.
Sweet dreams all! Have a wonderful rest. Praying for a new tomorrow with friendship here. Thank you for stopping by. Linky will not accept my link for Thankful Thursday so I will just leave this here. Have a terrific rest and hoping tomorrow we can all be back here again.
3 comments:
I remember reading this poem long ago,it is nice to see it again, and it brings up good memories. I hate to see a tree go down, but you are right about diseases and such.
I had never seen this one so thank you for sharing. I remember in 4th grade having to learn The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. XO
Trees are such a blessing, as long as they aren't next to the house or the power lines. Then they are a bit scary.
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