Oaks, wondrous, such variety seen —
American Turkey, Red, Bluejack,
Chestnut, Cork and Evergreen,
Brash, Post, Iron and Black,

Box White, Overcup and Laurel,
Swamp, Pin, California Black,
Scarlet, Live, Possum, Shingle,
Spanish, Scrub and Jack.

Oaks attract many woods creatures,
Caterpillars, all summer, munch,
Birds find most intriguing features,
Check leaves for wormy lunch.

When season changes, fall of year,
Acorns mature, stems break, they drop.
Mouse, chipmunk, turkey, bear, deer,
Love essential fat of oaken crop.

Poplars are gorgeous, trunks so round,
Straight arrow, a hundred feet tall,
Yellow-green tulips cover ground,
On top, woodlark trills divine call.

Beeches, regal, uniform smooth,
Like taut canvas, gray-green bark,
Love, century aged, sworn truth,
Heart, “John + Mary,” left mark.

Maples, stately wood for desk or bed,
Norway, Ash-leaved, Big-leaf and Pie,*
Dwarf, Mountain, Goosefoot and Red,
Moosewood, Silver and Bird's-eye,

Oregon, Great and Mountain Alder,
Rock, Pointed-leaf, Striped Dogwood,
Scarlet, Swamp, Vine and Box Elder,
Rocky-Mountain and Sugarwood.*

And there are ashes, pines and birches,
Of numerous varieties, a startling array,
Fir and spruce, like steepled churches,
Hemlock cathedrals where some might pray.

But there’s something about a hickory tree
That brings my senses to finest pitch,
Many varieties of this American honoree,
Known for tool handles — resilient and rich.

Strongest fiber, pliable, distinctive smell, bark,
Its cells are dense, very tight to split apart,
Shagbark, Bitternut, Nutmeg, and Shellbark,
Big-bud, Water, Mockernut, and White-Heart,

Black, Swamp, Pignut, and Brown,
But my all-time favorite — King Nut.
Dollar-sized nuts fall to ground,
Harvest quickly or squirrels will cut.

Other bushes, shrubs, grass and weed,
Vines tie trees together, harboring tangles,
The forest, hordes of denizens feed,
Flesh and fiber, ecology embrangles.

Can’t see the forest for the trees,
Absorbed by innate majesty in each,
Checking its profile and pedigrees,
Oak, some kind of maple or beech.

Yes, I’ve trouble seeing the forest,
As I concentrate on a single tree,
But I know it’s home for all the rest,
And spiritual revival for me.

© 2004 R. Leland Waldrip

* Pie and sugarwood may be colloquial names for the sugar maple.