Photo by Julie Russo

Trees

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing Breast.

A tree that looms 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 was lain.

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only god can make a tree

--Joyce Kilmer

Veterans of the Foreign Wars asked the government to set aside a fitting stand of trees to serve as a living memorial to Joyce Kilmer, who was killed in action during World War I. Although Kilmer was both a soldier and a poet, he is most remembered for his poetry about common, beautiful things in nature. Kilmer's best known poem is "Trees."