Plant a Flower, Plant a Vine. Plant a Tree?

...A Poem

 

 

If I plant a flower, chances are

I live to see it bloom...and die.

A flower's time is short. It's born

in Spring, and by the Fall is dead.

 

If I plant a vine, I may,

may not, see it slowly climb

and thrive, branch its barky way,

graced by burr and gentle green.

 

But, should I plant a tree

whose end I'll never see?

Never see it grow so tall,

barely see it grow at all?

 

Should I plant a tree,

when I will cease to be,

never watch the leaves unfold,

never its full growth behold?

 

If I do not plant the tree,

someone else who loves the tree

as much as I, come after me,

will not have the chance to see.

 

Yes, I should plant a tree,

both for myself and thee.

God and nature, life agree;

I plant for all, for me, for thee.

 

Copyright by Don Gray