Tree Hugger

Tree On The Knoll

In the piney woods of east Texas
knolls are the closest we come to hills

For centuries this land nurtured
Thick undergrowth and large trees

So many that early communities
Were established to harvest the timber

We now live on one of those knolls
With large trees safe from flash floods

Our large trees germinated during The Depression
Weathering insects, storms and man’s tools

The hurricane of ’08 has downed many a tree
Once again illustrating life’s “luck of the drew”

The knoll has lost several trees
But one of its giant pines still stands

Its feet are now weakened by the winds
And it’s posture stereotype as “old”

Still standing, although to a great degree
Because of the smaller trees in the grove

In the forest, our 70-foot tree would be left along
To the whims of nature’s next storm

Now the future of this three-score tree
Is in the hands of a tree-hugger

I love the trees towering above our house
And accepted the risk of storms downing them

The passing of the hurricane spared our trees
But has changed the risk calculation

Now this towering tree on the knoll
Is in the hands of a “pragmatic” tree-hugger

kenne