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Tuesday, 13 October 2009

The Lonely Tree

How often do we stand and look in amazement at a tree, standing entirely alone on a remote hill-side, and wonder at it being there? The Tynedale poet Wilfrid Wilson Gibson was moved sufficiently by such a sight to write:

A twisted ash, a ragged fir,
A silver birch with leaves astir.

Men talk of forests broad and deep,
Where summer-long the shadows sleep.

Though I love forests deep and wide,
The lone tree on the bare hill-side,

The brave, wind-beaten, lonely tree,
Is rooted in the heart of me.

A twisted ash, a ragged fir,
A silver birch with leaves astir.



W. W. Gibson's poem The Lonely Tree is included in a collection of his work entitled Homecoming, published by the Wagtail Press in 2003 to celebrate the 125th anniversary of his birth in Hexham. It is included here with the publisher's permission.

4 comments:

  1. ADRIAN19 October 2009 at 14:27

    I agree, I've always been fascinated. Why just the one? Perhaps nothing to pollinate it, or the sheep missed it as a sapling.

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  2. Anonymous20 October 2009 at 22:10

    A very special tree shot Emma. Would be nice to see one when snow is on the ground as well. Not that I am expecting you to go out in the cold weather though.

    Oddly enough Emma the word verification was "cedear".

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  3. Emma Anderson21 October 2009 at 23:25

    Thanks both for your comments. If it's not too slithery Roy, I will venture out when we next have snow and take another picture of the lonely tree.

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  4. holdingmoments25 October 2009 at 11:55

    A fine looking tree Emma.
    Like Adrian says, does seem strange just the one on the hillside like that.

    Thank you for your comment on my earlier post. Appreciated.

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Hello and thank you for visiting my Northumberland Naturalist blog which I hope you enjoyed. Any comment, or correction to any item or identification, is most welcome. Emma

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