Trees - "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely ..."

"Woods and Creek" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Trees.

I love them.

They inspire me.

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

Those words are from the poem by Joyce Kilmer that our seventh grade teacher had us memorize all those many years ago. I loved trees then and I find them even more special now.

A few years ago, we went on a trip to Haiti, and the thing that struck me most there was the lack of beautiful, lush trees despite the tropical climate. The landscape was devastated by the loss of trees because desperate people had ravished their graceful presence to make charcoal. How sad for the environment and for the beauty that might have been.

As I write, I look out from my office into our woods. It is a place where I often imagine Pocahontas once played. After all, these woods overlook West Point Creek. In 1608, John Smith explored the York River by barge or canoe--I've read both. Our little town is on the peninsula where the York divides into the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi Rivers. West Point Creek which comes off of the Mattaponi was probably part of the exploration. It is clearly shown on the French army map from 1781.

The trees that surround us have been photographed often by me. I have painted them multiple times in many colors and styles. All the while, I have wondered what the old trees have seen. Do they judge the people who study and paint them? What is the conversation in the wind?

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

How they spark the imagination.