Trees

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree. (from Trees by Joyce Kilmer)

Trees are very special plants to me. Often when I stare in wonder at a soaring redwood or stately elm I recall the lines above which I learned in childhood. When it comes to poetry, its author, Joyce Kilmer, was something of a one hit wonder. He was killed by a sniper’s bullet at the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918. This month marks the centennial of his death. Just this week the Johnson & Johnson company was in the news because of a judgement against them for cancers alleged to be caused by their baby powder. The inventor of that baby powder? Dr. Frederick Kilmer, Joyce’s dad.

These coincidences got me thinking about trees.

I wonder about the trees

Why do we wish to bear

Forever the noise of these

More than another noise

So close to our dwelling place?

(Robert Frost)

Trees have a symbiotic relationship with humans. The tree that stands by a house may shade it in the summer and shed its leaves in the winter allowing more sunlight on the house. The house returns the favor by shedding extra water from its roof for the tree to drink.

Trees are a symbol of strength:

There’s a white oak on the hill near my old clinch mountain home

It stands straight and true on that windy spur alone

And when the cold winds blow it roots they bend and moan

And when the storm is over it straightens up and goes on

Have you ever heard an old oak tree creaking in the wind? Those Stanley brothers lyrics cut to the core of why we cherish and respect these stately plants so much.

Many trees give us food:

If you don’t like my peaches, don’t shake my tree

Stay out of my orchard. Let those peaches be

Take me home to the place where the orange trees grow

To the sweet sunny south take me home

There’s a rabbit in a log and I ain’t got my dog

You can talk about you apples, your peaches and your peas

’Simmons a-growing on the tree

The higher up on the cherry tree The riper grows the cherry

More you hug and kiss the gals Sooner they will marry

Oh I’ll never steal a honey from a tree from a tree

I’ll never steal a honey from a tree

My love stood under a walnut tree

Over the garden wall

Suffice it to say you don’t have to go very far in bluegrass and old-time to find a song that mentions a tree. It might be a gospel tune with the savior nailed to a tree. It might be a lonesome pine where one lover meets another on the mountainside. It might be a sad song about a weeping willow tree or a Laurie Lewis song about tall pines.

Trees are still out there doing their best to save the planet. Vern Williams expressed that fact in his far ahead of its time song about the ecology, Is it too late?:

A sawmill stops burning and the smoke clears away

But the big trees keep falling day after day

Oh tell me my brother why can’s they see?

They’re destroying the source of the air that we breathe

The noble tree is something we all must cherish and emulate:

Lord let me live like that white oak on the hill

Help me to live in your almighty will

Help me on my journey as I travel on

And give me the strength to straighten up and go on