Trees by Bliss Carman — Read

In the Garden of Eden, planted by God, / There were goodly trees in the springing sod, --

Trees of beauty and height and grace, / To stand in splendor before His face.

Apple and hickory, ash and pear, / Oak and beech and the tulip rare,

The trembling aspen, the noble pine, / The sweeping elm by the river line;

Trees for the birds to build and sing, / And the lilac tree for a joy in spring;

Trees to turn at the frosty call / And carpet the ground for their Lord's footfall;

Trees for fruitage and fire and shade, / Trees for the cunning builder's trade;

Wood for the bow, the spear, and the flail, / The keel and the mast of the daring sail;

He made them of every grain and girth / For the use of man in the Garden of Earth.

Then lest the soul should not lift her eyes / From the gift to the Giver of Paradise,

On the crown of a hill, for all to see, / God planted a scarlet maple tree.