Poetry

Everyone is familiar with the opening lines of this poem:

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

It's a very simple poem, kind of a beginner's poem. It is not terribly sophisticated. But nevertheless it, like all good poetry, can be quite profound. The next two lines:

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

And that right there is an image I've kept with me all my life. The sort of image that changes your perception of the world, or as Emily Dickinson put it, takes the top of your head off. I read the poem for the first time, and a couple of days later I saw a tree standing on top of a hill and remembered the image. But I didn't fully understand it until I began breastfeeding my kids.

Read the whole poem. It won't take you long.

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.

Joyce Kilmer