Poetry

Trees

Katharine FolkesAugust 6, 202627 views

Not many things on God’s green earth

add beauty with expanded girth

or grow in strength and fortitude,

alone in stately solitude

more simply and more naturally

than trees.

I have, with trees, a love affair

And often times I do despair

At new homesites and shopping malls—

Backhoe, please don’t kill them all;

Leave some for shade and beauty’s sake—

Trees please.

Poet, Joyce Kilmer said it best,

instilled in children and the rest

of mankind how we all are blessed

with beauty and we should possess

a soupçon of noblesse oblige

toward trees.

Reviews (3)

Tim Margetts

8/6/2026

I like this. In its gentle way, it fills the place for a poem that would sit very comfortably in a local anthology or be read aloud at an Arbour Day celebration. It isn't trying to dazzle with elaborate metaphor or surprising twists; instead, it succeeds through sincerity and a genuine affection for its subject. My favourite aspect is that the trees are never really the point. They become a quiet reminder that beauty and strength often take centuries to achieve, yet can disappear in an afternoon under the bucket of a digger. That's a gentle message, delivered with warmth rather than accusation, and I think that restraint is one of the poem's greatest strengths.

Katharine Folkes

8/6/2026

thank you, as always, Tim. I do love trees. I have two large oaks that hang out over the street (up high) and our street is beginning to have limbs meeting from both sides, forming a lovely arch. But there are housing developers outside of town just mowing down beautiful trees to get more houses in. Makes me want to cry. Do you know that our once quaint city of San Antonio (Texas) with its winding, brick streets down town, (following the old Chism trail) has grown into a mass of freeways, high in the air, crossing over and under each other, going in all directions with bulldozing and new houses all along our highways going out of town, and we are close to having 2 million people? Anyway, thank you again for your very nice critique, which is much appreciated. Happy almost weekend!

Rachelle Allen

8/10/2026

They are an amazing commodity - so many kinds and shapes and sizes. They're so like people that way. I loved Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree." Beautifully done, Katherine. xoxo

Katharine Folkes

8/12/2026

Thanks, Rachelle!

Rachel Gosling

8/12/2026

The Words That Got to Me

Leave some for shade and beauty’s sake— Trees please. Amen to that! We are blessed with a garden full of trees and I am so grateful for their beauty and shade, as well as the copious wildlife they encourage in. Neighbours in the past have complained about the many leaves - I wonder where they think their oxygen comes from?

I loved this ode to trees - well-written and pleasing to read. They are the most wonderful things in the world and it is horrifying to see new estates being built without even one. A friend lives in one of those boxes and says there is no birdsong at all. How sad.

Katharine Folkes

8/12/2026

Thank you, Rachel! a fellow tree lover! I have two big oaks, one inside my patio, (deck is built around it) and one outside it. Wish I had more. One thing I love, the street coming into our area has oaks on either side of the street that meet overhead in a beautiful shady arch. Makes me smile just driving down the street.. Thank s so much for reading this and for you lovely comments!