A Serenity of Oaks

 

A Serenity of Oaks

Walk deep into the summer woods; past groves of trembling aspen go
(their chalky trunks stand straight and tall in crowds; if grown apart, they fall).
Walk on, past hawthorne, hazelnut, and plum, where saskatoon and chokecherry grow,
and when you pass the waving grass in clearings filled with sun-sweet air,
the dark majestic giants see: a serenity of oaks is there.
I know of one whose youth was hard; down near the base its bark is scarred.
And one began its life as three: a living arboreal trinity.
With strong and heavy limbs upraised there's one; it's lived a life of praise.
The last to put out leaf in spring, the tall and mighty forest king,
May you stand forever and never fall. The serenity of oaks I sing.
-- HJ June 24, 2009