Explore "Tree Feelings" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I wonder if they like it-being trees? / I suppose they do. / It must feel good to have the ground so flat, / And feel yourself stand right straight up like that- / So stiff in the middle-and then branch at ease, / Big boughs that arch, small ones that bend and blow, / And all those fringy leaves that flutter so. / You'd think they'd break off at the lower end / When the wind fills them, and their great heads bend. / But then you think of all the roots they drop, / As much at bottom as there is on top,- / A double tree, widespread in earth and air / Like a reflection in the water there.
I guess they like to stand still in the sun / And just breathe out and in, and feel the cool sap run; / And like to feel the rain run through their hair / And slide down to the roots and settle there. / But I think they like wind best. From the light touch / That lets the leaves whisper and kiss so much, / To the great swinging, tossing, flying wide, / And all the time so stiff and strong inside! / And the big winds, that pull, and make them feel / How long their roots are, and the earth how leal!