There's a tree high in the mountains which once was just a tree
Now it stands and grows so proudly...has this new personality
The heart of it is showing with tightly bonded letters
It smiles like it is human although that doesn't matter
Only to these two lovers whose names immortalize
The initials of these spirits who made her bark their prize
She stands with force a plenty...their passion now she carries
Along with inner voices that spirits up and married
No legal words for riches and treasures etched in bark
Its a written word of promise and the passions with their spark
Its the sacred oath of lovers who share in natures way
The promises of hearts to hold with growing day to day
In a secret hidden cove where the rhododendron blooms
In the bowers of her foliage when the mighty thunder booms
In the spring or in the winters...in the fall when leaves turn gold
Their hearts immortal promise gives warmth to all the cold
Their tree is but the foothold and speaks of love so true
In the mountain cove for lovers...lives but, this silent clue
Of the two whose hearts beat freely in a cadence-echoed sound
In this cove high on Blood Mountain...love grows on sacred ground.

© Susan K. Rowse

I found this old River Oak with its bark signed by two lovers . It brought about this poem.