Trees
Joyce Kilmer, 1913
Joyce Kilmer's short poem in rhymed couplets that begins 'I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree.'
(For Mrs. Henry Mills Alden)
I think that I shall never seeA poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prestAgainst 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 wearA 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.