Strange Tree Poem by Elizabeth Madox Roberts

Away beyond the Jarboe house
I saw a different kind of tree.
Its trunk was old and large and bent,
'And I could feel it look at me.'


The road was going on and on
Beyond to reach some other place.
I saw a tree that looked at me,
And yet it did not have a face.


It looked at me with all its limbs;
It looked at me with all its bark.
The yellow wrinkles on its sides
Were bent and dark.


And then I ran to get away,
But when I stopped to turn and see,
The tree was bending to the side
And leaning out to look at me.