Written ca. 1957; published on 15 April 2021
Dear Ones,
This was the first poem I ever wrote, when I was eight or 10 years old, when I was just learning cursive handwriting. As I recall, I may have been inspired to write the poem after reading the poem “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Still today I feel that trees are my friends. I am not above talking to my friends the jacaranda trees in front of my house. They like it when people speak to them … They say no one ever does, here in the City of the Angels … It cheers me up to cheer them up.
I remember how triumphant I felt that I could write a poem, although I could see it was nowhere near quality of the beautiful poem by Joyce Kilmer. I thought I might like to set the poem to music, but I never did. As can be seen, I have gussied up the punctuation and spelling …
Oh Beautiful, Colorful Tree
A Poem by Alice B. Clagett
ca. 1957
Oh beautiful, colorful tree —
Beauty that no bounds know.
Perfectly shaped, perfectly formed,
With no leaves displace to show;
Gently caressed by the wind —
Caressed with motherly care.
High above the sun-filled meadow —
High as the birds of the air,
Where did you get such bright colors —
Colors so rich and rare —
And in winter take such forlorn looks —
Looks so distressful and bare
Then in spring burst into bloom —
Bloom so green and radiant?
These things I sit pondering o’er
Pondering o’er in wonderment
But now I must continue —
continue on my way
Yet – Wait! the soft breeze whispers —
Whispers and seems to say,
The Supreme One has made me —
Me in all my might
Makes me change with the seasons —
Seasons so pretty and bright
Yes, the Ruler of all made me —
Ruler of All, Ruler of Right.
Image: “Oh Beautiful, Colorful Tree 1,” handwritten by Alice B. Clagett, ca. 1957, CC BY-SA 4.0
Image: “Oh Beautiful, Colorful Tree 2,” handwritten by Alice B. Clagett, ca. 1957, CC BY-SA 4.0
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–from Link: “Oh Beautiful, Colorful Tree,” a poem by Alice B. Clagett, written ca. 1957; published on 15 April 2021 … https://wp.me/p2Rkym-mm8 ..
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Alice B. Clagett
Except where otherwise noted, “The Chalice and the Crucible” by Alice B. Clagett … https://chaliceandcrucible.com/ … is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0) … https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ..