Trees

TREES

Tall and straight the poplar stands

Reaching upward with begging hands

To wind and sky, as clouds scurry by

Begging for rain when the drought runs dry.

Drooping and weeping the green willow grows

Trailing its arms in the water’s below

Cool caverns it screens, with its branches of green

As the water drifts lazily by in a dream

The gum tree spreads it branches wide

It’s mottled bark like a shedding hide.

Through wind and rain, drought and flame

Forever she stands like an iron frame.