The Crepe Myrtle Trees Poem by J.B. LeBuert

The crepe myrtle trees are always the most work, you see.
I have about one hundred trunks, all in groups of three.
I cut off all their branches every year in the spring.
They look odd, just six foot tall trunks, and no other thing.

The pruning is done to make it easier to see.
Then the new branches that grow are so pretty.
Their trunks shed some thin bark every year.
It's a beautiful thing, just how unique they appear.

Each branch that's cut off forms a new bough,
And they all grow large bunches of flowers somehow.
The colors of purple, white, pink and shades of red,
Are impossible to forget, or get out of your head.

When they are pruned down to just a bare spike,
It's easier to see other burgeoning trees that I like.
I think they love this kind of brutal cutting, it's clear;
Because they respond with natural beauty, each year.

The titmouse and chickadee are often seen in the trees.
It's nice to have trees that provide seeds and berries.
In the winter their seeds provide small birds with their needs.
They give to our feathery friends, which no one else feeds.

The massive amount of work involved in the spring,
Is always mitigated by their beauty, an unmatched thing.
I've finished all the pruning already this year,
Now it's on to other gardening tasks, I fear.