At the foot of a great elm tree,
I feel my heart can soar
To the quiet whispering winds,
And the earth can offer more.
Among the rustling leaves I find
A calmness and a breath;
The dancing shadows play, behind
This slender trunk of death.
Yet from the bark twine leaves still grow
And blossoms start anew;
Above me, ever green, they show
The life that’s ever true.
- Joyce Kilmer