While enjoying a glorious New Year’s day with my family tobogganing in a forested ravine near our house, I was reminded of how magnificent Canada’s woodlands are. It also brought to mind a poem that was written 100 years ago in 1913, simply entitled “Trees” by Alfred Joyce Kilmer. If you have never read or heard it, it is only 12 lines long but is the poem for which Kilmer was most remembered. It reads:
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth’s flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Independent of one’s spiritual or religious convictions (full disclosure, I’m Christian), what Kilmer expresses in his poem is the wonderful creation that is a tree. It is not surprising that when many think of preserving nature, they think of preserving forests, whether that be rainforests, temperate forests or boreal forests. The fact that in both Genesis and Revelations, reference is made to the Tree of Life is certainly a powerful statement regarding their place of honor in the order of things. For me personally, it is also a charming bonus that both the Viridis corporate logo and my own family crest are trees!
Below is a picture taken in the woods where we spent New Year’s Day. All I would need to find is the shining lantern and I could swear I had entered Narnia! Even without the lantern, it was certainly a magical landscape.
May your 2013 be filled with magical moments and landscapes!
Viridis Environmental Inc. 