The unseasonably warm weather this past few days of Spring has brought out an early budding for all plants and trees. It started early this Spring when buds start to form on trees and peeks of daffodils began. Tiny shoots have begun to burst into miniature tender leaves that will eventually mature into full-blown leaves.
One of my favourite poems and songs that is a tribute to Spring and Summer is
‘Only God can make a Tree’
“I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed against the earth’s sweet 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.”
…. by A. Joyce Kilmer
Unfortunately, however we are losing many of our majestic stately trees due to today’s concept of ‘insurance liability’. They may have stood for more than one hundred years but, like some people, are deemed too old and, therefore, their end of life is decided for them.
Paul Robeson was the epitome of the 20th-century Renaissance man. He was an exceptional athlete, actor, singer, cultural scholar, author, and political activist. His talents made him a revered man of his time, yet his radical political beliefs all but erased him from popular history.
