Craobh Poem by Sheena Blackhall

Birch is for new beginnings.
Birch is the nursery tree
Birch celebrates sweet Beltane
Source of fertility

Birch came after the ice-age
Birch thrashed unruly boys
Birch made witches' besoms
And baskets, shoes, and toys

Birch made dye bright yellow
Birch sap cured cystitis
Birch soothed acne, eczema
Rheumatics and arthritis.

Rowan's the wood enchantress.
It grows where others dwindle
Protectoress agin evil
For making wheel and spindle

Rowan's a powerful potion
It was struck through a corpse's heart
Druids used it to raise fierce spirits
It kept dead and living apart

Oak is the Lord of the Woods
Gives acorns, charcoal, tanning
Built crannogs. roof beams, frames
Healed wounds,sores, and cured vomiting

Druids wore crowns of oak leaves
Like Cernunnos, the horned tree
Acorns bring luck and courage
Oaks aided prophecy

The pine, Caledonian forest,
Our native conifer tree
Is hostto pine martin and squirrel
Cross bill and the capercaillie

The pine can live6 centuries
100 per cent pure Scots
Made paper pulp and chipboard
Telephone poles,pit props

Pine resin gives us varnish,
Paint, and tar, and needles
Its resin waxes violins
Antiseptic stops the wheezles

It is the tree of heroes
Laid upon heroes' graves
It makes the sound of lovemaking
When branches sway like waves

Willow is used for baskets,
Creels, eel traps, ropes and bridles
Fencing, gates, and coffins,
Beehives, sticks, bats, and whistles

Willow makes wands and coracles
Cures warts, it causes visions
Symbol of inspiration
Gives flutes for young musicians

Yew is the tree of ages
5,000 years, a sage
Ice-man carried a bow of its wood
It grows by many a grave

Yew guards the door between the worlds
To life beyond the lair
Its roots grow down through bodies
Releasing souls to air