Only God Can Make a Tree

Mossy boulders dot the tree- and rhododendron-lined stream in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, Nantahala National Forest, western North Carolina.

Trees

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 may in Summer 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.

BY JOYCE KILMER