Grow your own tree
Plant me
in a secret place
where i can grow and fill the space
I'll hold all your secrets
share your joys and your pain
give you shade when it's sunny
give you shelter from the rain
- a place to visit, that's where
i'll be and flourish with love
- your own special tree
After growing
quite a few oak saplings from acorns, I found myself wondering where they
could all get planted! I had collected the acorns from a couple of oak trees
locally,
which are special to me for one reason or another and so I came up with the
idea of the simple poem.
I liked
the idea of growing each tree in a recycled fruit juice or long life milk
carton and after using the
'innocent' fruit juice container, the idea seemed more appealing; the two
seemed to compliment each
other perfectly; a new delicate, magical, living sapling and the word on the
carton said it all.
I knew that
each tree being an oak would eventually, when planted out, need lots and lots
of space
and so thought that I would incorporate that thought into the poem.
I suppose really as a form of instruction for the person who was going to
eventually plant it (so many
people ridiculously plant potentially large tress in their back gardens or
small spaces, without
thinking of the long term consequences and the poor tree ends up being cut
down, life ended!)
- So these
saplings I give out to friends and family, sometimes to mark special occasions
in their lives or
just as a living gift and with them I attach the poem.
After all, all living things need love and care, a tree is no exception.
Alison Calcott, Ayrshire Forest Cluster.