a poem lovely as a tree

If you've visited my blog before, no doubt you know I'm smitten with trees. They inspire me, protect me and sometimes are so full of beauty that I turn to mush. So, if you're thinking, here I go again with more photos, you're right. They're my choice for Favorite Things Thursday.

Trimmed, pruned and shaped, they are still able to bloom even under the most strenuous conditions.

I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.
Willa Cather

I walk past this oak tree almost daily year round and wonder what has brought it to such a twisted--yet healthy--state. A true survivor on the bank of the lake. In the fall it drops acorns all over the sidewalk which I step on to make the work easier for the squirrels.

Minnesota is rich in birch trees which shimmer and shine year round.

Utilitarian for the rest of the forest population and a source of wild imaginings for humans. Who lives here, after all?

I've read on more than one occasion that trees 'communicate' to each other from their underground root system, sensing if one is in trouble, ill or if they hear the sound of a chain saw. I don't know. . .

I think I am most in awe of trees as they weather the harsh winter season, especially up north. Their bark is cold to the touch then, but they stand dormant and always make me think of horses asleep standing up.

Message on the Winter Air

Long shadows on blue snow
Warm sun stepping around trees
Life’s mysterious light and dark.

Trees standing tall
Uncovered faces in the wind
Snow collecting in the cleft of boughs
Sap deeply stored.

Feetless birds, round as tennis balls
Perched facing the warming sun
Random song--

Reassuring their own kind
Reaching limb to limb,
Barren bark remembers melting snow
Turns to buds in spring.

Stand tall, reserve sap,

Accept visitors,

Wrap the bird song like a scarf .

Visit Blue to see what other bloggers fancy. . .you'll be inspired. Happy Thursday!