The Illustrated
Book of Trees
by
Louise Hart
© 2002 by Author. All rights reserved.
Published by
Sirius Publications
www.sirius-books.com
No part of this publication may
be produced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publisher.
Requests for permission to make
copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Sirius Publications
through our web site at www.sirius-books.com.
Cover art design copyright 2002
by Sirius Publications. Cover graphic copyright 2001 by Louise Hart.
Printed in the
ISBN 1-930889-40-2
Table of Contents
The Vanquisher
A Winter Afternoon
To Be
Surviving A
Blizzard
Winter’s Long Icy Fingers
Spring Is Nigh
To the Tree Whose
Dying Was Not Heard
A Scene in a Graveyard on a Windy
Day
Leaf Cycles
Momentary Reflections
A Child’s Goodnight
The First of Spring
Ode to a Memory
Thoughts on Planting a
Seasonal Moments
Realities
The Beginning, the Ending
The Vigil
Peace
On Friendship
The Tramline Ride
The Existentialist’s Heaven
Man’s Quest
A River Without
End
Interlude
Achieving Another
State of
Missed Opportunities
Living as a Tree
In the Wake of Thunder
A Summer Parade
Strolling at
Tranquility
Arboreal Haberdashery
Raindrops
Soul Protection
The Wind in the Night
Feng Shui
Echoes of my Father
Memories of Childhood
Heralders of Autumn
In the End as in the Beginning
Twilight
On a
Autumn Glory
Ode to Chrysanthemums
A Keen for Autumn Leaves
Shortened Days Grow Long Shadows
Seasonal Reflections
On the Universal Axis of Space
and Time
Sun Lantern Leaves
Natural Pruning
A Carnival of Colors
First Leaf in October
Wind Blown Eddies
Autumn Showers
The Warmth of Yesterdays
Portrait of a Garden
On a
The Colors of Fall
The Principle of Free Will
Wisdom Revisited
Waiting for Budding Leaves Again
Night Cries
Leafing in Autumn
Like a Gossamer Veil of Smoke
Autumn Memories
September Scenes
Teasing Our Appetites
Gone Forever
The Benefit Performance
A Garden Before All Hallows Night
A November Afternoon
Autumn
To the Sentry of my Childhood
Universal Laws Apply
My Constitutional
Metaphysical Realities
Autumn Lyrics
Poet and writer Louise Hart has
been writing since she was five years of age and has been published since she
was thirteen. She is a former teacher and journalist and was previously named Poet
Laureate of Greater Lawrence by the Greater Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.
A prolific and versatile writer
as well as a photojournalist, she is the author of over 36 books, including
illustrated poetry, novels, short stories, nonfiction, humor, essays,
children’s books and cookbooks. Some of her works include: Prayers for the
Temple Within, The Book of Trees, volumes I through IV, Mill
Girls and Their Daughters, Tales of a City Maid, On the Death of
Love and other Poems, September 2001: In Memoriam, New Poems, The
Ashley Stories, What Does a Tick Sound Like?, Haunted House Diary, The
Racer’s Edge and other Stories, The Boy Who Knew and other stories,
Holiday Stories, A Hart-y Laugh at U.S., How to Start an E-Business –
Online and Off the Net, Grandma’s Book of Recipes and Helpful Hints
and The Valley Gourmet: Adventures in Food A to Z.
A native of
The Illustrated Book of Trees
started with a comment. Parents of a child with cerebral palsy believed that
their child was not to be held to the same standards of moral behavior and
could not be expected to know and obey the Ten Commandments because of his
physical disability.
"Can he walk?" the poet
asked the parents.
"Yes, he can walk," the
parents responded.
"Can he see a tree,"
asked the poet.
"Yes, of course, he can see
a tree," the parents answered now wondering what the poet was saying.
"Can he touch, see, smell
and hear leaves? Can he see how the trunk grows, how the branches and even a
twig grows with free choice toward the heavens in patterns that are naturally
symmetrical and balanced? If so, he can know the universal laws of this life,
for the power which created the universe was not dependent upon man‘s learning
any one language or being able to read to declare its laws. They are written in
the wind and in the trees," the poet explained.
The parents who belonged to a
fundamentalist Christian sect seemed genuinely surprised for the poet was
suggesting that the same laws and wisdom for which they read the Bible daily
could be found throughout all of nature and life on earth below as in the
heavens above.
Trees have, of course, long been
highly regarded by man. Man was thought to first have sought refuge and like
his ancestors, lived in trees before emerging and walking upon the earth.
Certainly, trees not only have provided shelter and safety for man, but also,
food, clothing, tools, air and later the building materials and tools man would
need to begin to shape his own environment. Trees do not walk upon this earth,
but in the Bible and the order of creation, they came into being before man.
They are conscious beings. We now know that they can sense and respond to the
environment. They exist in different forms and species wherever man seeks to
settle. They provide us with all the necessities and more. Without the rain forest
and trees, man could not survive. Many species of trees live longer than man.
Perhaps it is because trees have
been so integral to man’s survival and progress that man has from the first
appeared to study his towering neighbors. Man has also integrated the language
of trees into his spiritual and social organizations. There is not just the
Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, but also, the
tree of heaven, the tree of wisdom, the tree of life and death. Our families
are described as family trees and our moral character, it is noted, is shaped
for as a twig is bent so the tree shall grow. Our computers think fractally like trees. Trees stand as sentries pointing the
way to the heavens while sending roots out both horizontally and deep into the
earth. They beautify our environment, grow even in hostile places, live in integrated communities, symbiotically, often hosting
a whole community on their trunks and branches.
The poet’s ancestors were Celtic.
Trees occupied an important place in the Celtic mythology and culture.
Similarly, from man’s earliest art and writings, we know that trees have long
served also as man’s mentor and teacher. Trees do not just provide for our
physical environment, by studying trees, man has also advanced spiritually and
learned a great deal about his own history. Many of man’s musical instruments
by which he has created music to feed his soul have been fashioned from trees.
Trees gave us paper by which to preserve our ideas and the pencils with which
to write on that paper. Trees adapt to the environment in which they are grown,
growing taller at lower altitudes and shorter at higher altitudes. They
experience problems with pollution and overcrowding, and instinctively know to
grow toward the light, not darkness. They survive storms in their lives by
sacrificing parts of themselves and going with the wind. They do not judge or
discriminate, live in communities that are beautiful in their integration.
After forest fires and even volcanic eruptions, trees are often the first life
to return again and again. Each lives until it dies and with the help of the
elements and other living beings in its community, sends forth its children to
find and grow in their own place. Trees evidence both reincarnation and the importance
of an individual life. They exhibit the highest principles and laws of physics
and science. They do so on macro and microcosmic
levels.
Like the trees, some of the poems
included in this volume are substantial (in their metaphysics). Others seem light
and airy and still others present with subtle humor. Some of the poems reach as
deep as the roots of tall trees in their search for life and the laws of the
universe; others appear to make quick observations or to just enjoy the
scenery. Some of the poems play with the sounds and meaning of words like
leaves swaying and playing in a summer’s breeze. Others are as stalwart as
de-leafed trees in a winter’s storm. There are even those that seem on the
surface to be light and airy or almost a quip or afterthought but that with time reveal their true meaning. All have been
written to communicate that in this universe, we do not need to search into
unknown solar systems to know that we are not alone. As from the first, trees
and a myriad of other life, some of which man has still to discover, share and
make up this world with us.
Consistent with the poet’s advice
to the parents to let their child experience and study a tree and nature, the
poet has illustrated the volume with pictures taken from her environment. All
of the photographs were taken with a standard 35mm camera without benefit of
special lens for it is similarly the poet’s contention that the truths that we
seek in our lives are not "out there" but within our own lives and
environments, if we would but look and seek them. In some instances, the same
scene has been filmed from different angles, at different times of the day and
in different seasons to illustrate both how many different messages or truths
can be discerned, but also, the fact that what we derive or choose to see is as
much dependent upon when, where and how we choose to seek, look or experience.
When the poet first started the
Illustrated Book of Trees only one volume was envisioned. The idea was to
provide a look at the spiritual messages of trees in imagistic metaphysical
poems. In both instances, what was first envisioned has been exceeded.
This is but the first of a four volume set and the poetry in each does not just
seek to find classic religious or spiritual precepts in trees or individual
species of trees. There are historical perspectives as well as contemporary
exploration of issues of the environment. In all of the volumes, the
illustrations in some instances inspired the poem while in others, the
photographs were taken to illustrate and provide new perspectives on the
subject of the poem. Many exist as points of meditation and appreciation as do
the trees about us. The poet hopes that her readers will enjoy this and the
other volumes in The Illustrated Book of Trees series.
Universal laws and truth are not
hidden mysteries. As our physicists, astronomers and cosmologists have
reported, these laws, the laws of physics, mathematics, science, the secrets of
life are remarkably open for all those who seek to observe and learn them.
In fact, man does not need to
travel to Mars or another distant galaxy to observe or learn these laws. He
does not have to earn a doctorate in physics, mathematics, theology, philosophy
or in any discipline, for the laws are not only equally operative here on earth
as they are out there, in the far reaches of space, they are in plain view.
Those seeking eternal truths need only use their senses to see, hear, feel,
cognize their reality. We encounter them everyday in our daily lives.
It is as though these truths have
been left to us as lessons by a Rousseau-style parent who has shaped our
environment and experiences so that no matter where we look, if we wish, we can
learn. An example of this is the tree. The first trees, which were on earth
before even man’s ancestors breathed or the first man walked, in their own way,
exemplify and glorify the Omega point. In the Garden of Eden, trees fed and
sheltered man and when man fell from grace, the leaves of trees provided
clothing for him as well.
From the first, man has sought to
use the tree in his search for knowledge. In
What man has too often not done
is to realize that he need only observe the tree, its seasons, its leaves, its
roots, its life to learn many of the eternal truths
that he seeks. They are all there for him to learn. He does not need to speak
or know any particular language or have any language skills at all. The truths
are available for all who seek them.
One of the ironies of man’s
search for truth is that he travels so far and fails to see it when it is next
to him.
To learn from a tree, man need
not be able to identify any individual tree by phyla or family. Instead, he
need only see the tree’s fractal beauty through which it achieves
individuality. Though part of a family or phyla, each tree is thus different.
It is different because of how it expresses itself in its fractal choices made
individually in response to stimuli at different moments and in accordance with
what appears in the tree’s best interest at a particular time. A tree’s overall
beauty, like ours, is the sum of those choices, and though many trees of the
same family may seem to look alike from a distance, in fact, no two are exactly
alike. Indeed, two trees genetically linked to the same parent(s) may be
totally dissimilar as a result of circumstance, environment, individual
predisposition or choices made. Equal opportunity does not necessarily mean
assembly-line results.
Trees may be significantly
different, yet each is equally a tree. Tree bark may be seemingly smooth or
rough, shiny or dull and of several different colors. The shape, size, texture
and other characteristics of a tree’s flowers, fruits, seeds, leaves or
needles, if it has any, can be as varied as its geographic location,
environment or one’s imagination. The same is true for the height, width of
tree trunks, branches and roots. All over eons developed in response to
stimuli, genetic memory and selection based on and as an expression of the will
to live, to survive, the life force, the first principle, the principle of
becoming, the Great I am.
Forests, which were thought threatened
and destroyed by natural cataclysms, such as lightning sparked fires,
tornadoes, floods and volcanic eruptions, naturally regenerate - with or
without help from man. Where man may give up after a disaster, trees do not.
Similarly, a tree will attempt to
grow wherever it can without prejudice or discrimination.
Man has observed that the
strongest, healthiest forests are those that accommodate a variety of species.
Discrimination, isolation and imbalance are weakening, if not deadly, to not
only individual trees, but also, whole forests.
Regardless of the soil, sunlight,
rainfall and other environmental conditions present, a tree will attempt to
grow to its fullest wherever its seed lands. Seeds not provided with the basic
requirements for survival, do not. A seedling will attempt to make the best of
what it is given. Environmental influences, however, can have lifelong, if not
life-threatening, impact on the seedling. As the seedling is bent, so it grows.
The same is true for the impact of the environment on the tree’s roots,
branches, leaves, flowers, fruit and total being. The lack of a plentiful
supply of necessary nutrients, which a tree needs to flourish, can dramatically
impact the growth and life of each tree, regardless of its genetic heritage. No
two trees ever stand in the same place. No two trees thus ever truly have the
same environment, advantages or influences. Understanding this, one understands
that judgments as to beauty, symmetry and outward appearance of an individual
tree represents superficial and arbitrary perceptions of beauty that reflect on
the depth and values of the observer, not the observed.
Trees are responsible citizens in
the community of life. many of the most admired
attributes of a tree (its flowers, fruits, leaves and wood) were developed not
only as a response to the environment, but also, in recognition of the fellow
inhabitants of the tree's environment (birds, insects, vines, etc.).
Trees demonstrate the basic
principles of commerce. They barter or contract for the mutual benefit of the
participants. They provide shelter and food for birds. Birds, in turn, help
trees by consuming excess insects and providing vehicles for the transport of
seeds requisite to the survival and reproduction of the trees.
Man has sought to do similar
commerce with trees which "responsible" logging and tree farming.
Unfortunately, man has not always shown such wisdom and even today, may not
have the knowledge and ability to fully live up to his part of the barter
contract. As a result, man must now fear for his own continued existence. Trees
which have provided air, medicine, food, shelter, clothing, tools, toys,
transportation and so many other necessities for man's survival and quality of
life are finding it increasingly difficult to survive what man has done to the
environment. If the trees do not survive, so, too, may not the human species.
All of life is connected. Man
only began to fully comprehend this with the development of the industrial,
atomic and computer ages. Trees have long evidenced this connectivity. The
quality of life and even the life itself of trees on one continent is affected
by the quality of life and survival of seemingly unrelated trees on another
continent. The declination and disappearance of the rain forests is impacting
the environment in temperate climates. Global warming, the
change in climates impacts all. To survive, the life of all trees must
change to allow for the changes. This, even though the change
in the environment is not within the control of the individual tree.
Man recognizes the value of
trees. In many cities today, there are programs to plant trees in public areas,
vacant lots and even on private property. Sadly, man feels the need to place
fences around young trees grown for decoration on city streets. The fencing is
presumably to protect the young trees from those who do not respect or value
the young seedlings and not to keep the trees from running away, although if
the trees could run away from such environments, who would blame them?
Man needs trees to clean the air
of the pollutants that man generates with his inventions. Man fears and
endangers his health and life with the pollutants, which also maim, sicken and
kill trees, animals, plants and the environment as a whole.
Although each tree is a living
system unto itself, trees, like man, find strength in numbers and diversity. At
the same time, trees in forests and stands can experience problems associated
with over-population. As with man, when overpopulation occurs among trees,
sickness and disease spread more quickly. Trees must grow taller to obtain
sunlight, leaving the taller trees more vulnerable to other elements.
Similarly, variety improves the quality of life for all trees. If one species
of tree becomes too dominant, the imbalance created can destabilize the
environment for all living things. For trees, as for man, moderation is best.
Trees mark their every birthday
and appear to have a genetic memory. Man has on occasion personified trees, but
trees have not sought to petrify or de-forest man. Trees are, in fact,
incapable of malice (for which man may be grateful).
Trees also differ from man in
that they live more deliberately. Although they are destined to reach for the heavens,
they are rooted in the earth. Trees only seek to live. Trees do not seek to be
icons or idols. No tree worships another as a superstar. Trees do not seek the
worship of man or to rule or dictate to another. Trees do not judge us and bear
us no ill will. If a fallen tree or branch injures a man, it is because man has
crowded too closely to the tree. Trees bear no enmity toward man and, in fact,
are senior to man having evolved on this earth before man appeared. Once
rooted, trees do not move (unless moved by man). It is man who has invaded the
territory of the tree. Trees do not seek out man. Much of man's environment is,
in fact, inhospitable, if not deadly, to trees. Trees do not drive into man.
Man drives his vehicles into trees, which cannot be expected to move or cushion
the blow. Even rubber trees cannot bounce away. Trees, too often the innocent
victim's of man's carelessness, have no recourse in court or nature.
Man is an infant next to the
tree. In the order of creation, trees came before man. In the Judeo-Christian
story of creation, trees were created on the fourth day, man on the seventh.
Man would do well to remember that as a younger sibling of the tree, he was
born to observe, learn and to the extent appropriate, emulate the lessons of the
tree. To assist man in recognizing this educational opportunity and because of
this, this volume has been written and dedicated to the tree.
The Gift Of
Trees
From the first, trees obeyed
Ten
Commandments, maybe more.
Rooting, growing, evolving,
reproducing,
Communally living as part of a
stand, forest, garden
Filled with plants, insects,
birds, then man
For whom trees, in turn, provided
air to breath,
Fruit and nuts for nourishing
sustenance,
Leaves and branches for shelter,
cover and homes.
Each gave, took in accordance
with its needs,
Except man, who in his infancy,
Erred in thinking that by
ingesting the fruit,
He could climactically instantly
Permeate his being, his budding
psyche,
With the knowledge and wisdom
He saw exemplified by the tree.
Man, thus by his own hand,
Grew, survived, evolved,
reproduced,
Traveled to distant communities,
Imagined, planned, enabled,
crated,
Built, expanded, decorated,
elaborated,
Preserved, communicated, recorded
For all posterity through man's
continued
Attempts to harness, capture,
Use the power, strength, and
potential
Provided and taken from trees.
Man now in adolescence sampled
Atoms and molecules from the tree
Hoping to unravel the mystery
Of its origin
and creation.
Then emergent man looked again
Not at the atom, the molecule,
the branch,
But rather, at
all the trees.
Trees that ever illustriously
stand,
Their being, a testament, to be
read
By those seeking the Great to be,
I am.
Through their trunks, life flows
To fractal limbs, branches,
twigs,
Free will practiced, expressed to
survive,
A matter of
more than genetic destiny.
Trees choose neither
when or where
Their seeds shall blow or land
nor the ground,
Environment
where they shall root and grow.
To root, to grow requires so many
Elements beyond
the seed's control.
Not all seeds survive. Those that
do
Focus on the opportunity given.
Adapt,
Respond, modify and through the
seasons change.
The leaves of a seedling not yet
a foot tall
Will be as individualistic, show
all the
Characteristics, fulfill the same
function
As the leaves on mature trees,
regardless
Of species, all
to the same purpose.
Leaves, the outward identifier
of the individual trees and species,
Lie together in the fall,
accepting, demonstrating
An
understanding, the universal oneness of all.
Colors may differ. Not their life
cycles or destiny.
Only children who giggle and play
beneath the leaves
In summer and throw them in the
autumn air,
Kick, rake and bag them, think
that they disappear.
The soil the children run on, leaves of another year.
Life-giving nutrients transformed
again and again
Part of the wood, sap, leaves of
another season.
Trees need a variety of nutrients
for the ability
To grow. They flourish best
When not alone and when
surrounded
By more than their own species
Or kind. One that lives isolated, alone, in
solitude,
Sadly lives and is gone to
extinction. No progeny.
No one to carry
on its unique heritage and identity.
Balance, like variety, has its
rewards,
Makes one stronger through
storms,
Seasons and
succeeding generations.
Adversity cannot be avoided, only
endured.
Survival is more than a singular
act.
Trees nourish neighbors, protect,
Sustain other creatures, living
things
Which in turn help the tree by
Doing for the tree what it cannot
do for itself.
Respect, accommodation and
tolerance
Reward trees, lichen, insects and
birds alike
Though each to its kind and
place.
Few survive as long as a tree
With self-assurance, natural
adherence
To nature's laws, the tree goes
on.
No place for prejudiced, envy,
other negatives
In a life dependent on truth to
one's heritage,
And the individual's use of all
That has been given. All that is
encountered
Is made part of
the survival of a tree.
Trees enhance the beauty of
Their surroundings when their
leaves
Speak, whisper in harmony with
wind
And the other
of nature's elements.
No cry is so mournful,
unsettling,
As the cracking, breaking,
wrenching
Of a branch or the uprooting of a
tree
In an ice or
tropical storm or flood.
Through natural pruning, trees
shake
Loose limbs to
insure the survival of the whole.
The same for weaker trees and even
a stand
Of wood felled by sudden storm,
Blizzard or
hurricane. Man has
learned
That even forest fires regenerate
the land
And wood once thought devastated
By uncontrolled
nature. The forests of
Quickly re-establish themselves.
The force of life is that
compelling.
Large, hardwood trees, symbols of
strength,
Can be maimed, destroyed by
invading
Insects and microbes, taking
advantage
Of opportunities given them by
man
Who has yet to learn the lessons
of the Garden.
Trees, of course, do also
eventually pass.
The time limit of their lives is
not the concern
Of individual
seedlings. Quality of
soil,
Food, light, rain, nutrients,
opportunities
Presented, allowed are quickly
acknowledged.
Ever to be used to the fullest of
their
Possibilities, nothing less is
acceptable
If the tree is
to be at all. To be,
to live is all
For the tree until it cannot
stand and falls.
Cause is unimportant to the tree.
It endures until it cannot live
and through
What is left, it will, like the
leaves it sheds
Each year, live again in some
form.
Conservation of Energy applies.
Trees readily
Accept their time, place and form
allowed
In life's
tapestry. For a tree,
in whatever form,
From the beginning, now and
forever,
So long as there is a tree,
Compliantly, innately reverent,
it is enough to be.
Without investigating personal
history, status,
Age, name, family rank, origins
or genus,
On first encounter, I have never
met
A tree I did not immediately
accept,
Bond with, love, welcome as a
neighbor,
A friend,
teacher, playmate and fellow traveler.
This applies to trees of all
shapes, sizes
And abilities. Those with hardened interiors,
Those with soft
and seemingly vulnerable.
Both are equally valued without
prejudice.
With dignity and grace, trees
unpretentiously
Display their achievements,
accumulating wealth
In fractal
branches, needles or leaves.
To trees, such characteristics
are
But a response to individual
opportunity, environment,
An expression
of the will to live, nothing more.
Trees thrive after brutally cold
winters. In
Autumn, the color of their leaves
is enriched
By acid soils,
rains and early frost.
Trees unconsciously accept every
insult to their being
Without protest
or question. They
respond to adversity
With
regeneration. In whole or in part, both the same.
Accumulated knowledge is not to
be hoarded, but assimilated,
And given freely to future
generations that they,
Too, may live long and prosper
naturally.
Every tree I encounter imparts
this knowledge
To be treasured more than the
air, light, heat,
Shelter, furniture, toys, mills,
stores, cities,
Ships, wagons, wheels, art,
sculptures and more,
Trees through their wood have
allowed me
And my ancestral fruit pickers,
gatherers,
Woodcutters, inventors, artists,
farmers, industrialists,
Foresters, scientists, planters,
caretakers,
Observers and
fellow journeymen.
I, like them, sense instinctively
The life-enhancing, giving
qualities
In every tree I meet.