Last Week of Winter and a List About Trees

We've thought about the past and connected it to the present. We've chronicled the present. And now, as spring approaches, we look to the future. To close out winter with hope for the future and fresh beginnings, let's:

Make a wish and tie it to a tree.

I wrote my wish on a piece of paper.

I attached strings and bits of paper to my wish.

I used one attached string to fasten it loosely to a tree branch in my yard.

I check every day to see if my wish has been carried away by fairies, or, maybe, birds.

Why attach a wish to a tree? I will give you three reasons:

1. Birds will use your wish in their nest, and that's just nice. In fourth grade, I read about it in Sara, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (1985) when an outdoor haircut contributed to a soft nest for baby birds (read it!).

http://www.lookingglassreview.com/html/the_sarah_plain_and_tall_books.html

2. Trees are magical. Proof:

   a. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (1964)

http://www.bookapex.com/The-Giving-Tree-reviews-B000NY2R40_1.htm

   b. Charlie Brown's Christmas tree & The Christmas tree that grew from a magic pine cone in my backyard every year (a story for another day)

http://sometimesyouneedthat.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/o-christmas-tree-charlie-brown-christmas-tree/

3. Lots of nice things are said about trees, such as:

I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree.

 

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

 

A tree that looks 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 has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

 

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree. 

 

"Trees" was originally published in Trees and Other Poems. Joyce Kilmer. New York: George H. Doran Company, 1914. http://www.poetry-archive.com/k/trees.html

Let me know what happens with your wish!

Coming next time: a review of books about spring.