Trees

I found out that a lot of contemplative type people are considering trees. So here is my little tribute to them.

The Sound of 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?

We suffer them by the day

Till we lose all measure of pace,

And fixity in our joys,

And acquire a listening air.

They are that that talks of going

But never gets away;

And that talks no less for knowing,

As it grows wiser and older,

That now it means to stay.

My feet tug at the floor

And my head sways to my shoulder

Sometimes when I watch trees sway,

From the window or the door.

I shall set forth for somewhere,

I shall make the reckless choice

Some day when they are in voice

And tossing so as to scare

The white clouds over them on.

I shall have less to say,

But I shall be gone.

Robert Frost

There's a tree that grows in Brooklyn. Some people call it the
Tree of Heaven. No matter where its seed falls, it makes a tree
which struggles to reach the sky. It grows in boarded up plots
and out of neglected rubbish heaps. It grows up out of cellar
gratings. It is the only tree that grows out of cement. It grows
lushly ... survives without sun, water and seemingly without
earth. It would be considered beautiful except
that there are too many of it.
- Betty Smith, 1896-1972

I'll lie here and learn How, over their ground,
Trees make a long shadow And a light sound.
- Louise Bogan, 1898-1970

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces,
I would still plant my apple tree.
- Martin Luther (1483-1546)

You can live for years next door
to a big pine tree, honored to have
so venerable a neighbor, even
when it sheds needles all over your flowers
or wakes you, dropping big cones
onto your deck at still of night.
- Denise Levertov, Threat

A well maintained landscape with mature trees can increase property values up to
25 percent. Trees can cool houses in the summer. A city lot with 30 percent plant cover
provides the equivalent cooling necessary to air condition two moderately sized
houses 12 hours a day in the summer.
The Value of Trees Around Your Home.

There are those who say that trees shade the garden too much, and interfere
with the growth of the vegetables. There may be something in this:
but when I go down the potato rows, the rays of the sun glancing
upon my shining blade, the sweat pouring down my face,
I should be grateful for shade.
- Charles Dudley Warner

It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon
men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that
emanates from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews
a weary spirit.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

If what I say resonates with you, it is merely
because we are both branches on the same tree.
- W.. B . Yeats

I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.
- Robert Frost, Birch Trees

The talking oak
To the ancient spoke.
But any tree
Will talk to me.
- Mary Carolyn Davies

He that plants trees loves others beside himself.
- Thomas Fuller

I am not bound for any public place,
but for ground of my own
where I have planted vines and orchard trees,
and in the heat of the day climbed up
into the healing shadow of the woods.
- Wendell Berry

Stand Tall and Proud
Sink your roots deeply into the Earth
Reflect the light of a greater source
Think long term
Go out on a limb
Remember your place among all living beings
Embrace with joy the changing seasons
For each yields its own abundance
The Energy and Birth of Spring
The Growth and Contentment of Summer
The Wisdom to let go of leaves in the Fall
The Rest and Quiet Renewal of Winter
- Ilan Shamir, Advice From a Tree

I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though
they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we
do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind,
going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around
the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven
knows how fast and far!
- John Muir

Thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them:
for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down
(for the tree of the field is man's life)...
- Deuteronomy 20:19

Bread and butter, devoid of charm in the drawing room,
is ambrosia eaten under a tree.
- Elizabeth Von Antrim

The bud is on the bough again,
The leaf is on the tree.
- Charles Jefferys, The Meeting of Spring and Summer

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
- Winston Churchill

Today I knit a tree

I'm wondering if now you'll hear other people talking about trees. You might read stories about trees. You may hear prayers about trees. Stay tuned for some of my dear blog friends' posts about trees. I'll point you in their direction if they do. Thank you so much for stopping by and thinking about trees with me.
Oh! You may want to read The Giving Tree. It's very sweet.
xopp