Old Oak Tree Poem by Jim Yerman

I was walking down an old and weathered path…a carefree activity.
The path twisted and turned in the forest…until it passed by a old oak tree.

Something was different about this old tree…
I thought: In some way it must have been blessed
because in a forest filled with a variety of trees
This one was bigger than the rest.

Taller and rounder and wider…It was a mystery to me…
So I left the path in order to discover…The secret of that old tree.

The same sun shines onto its multitude of leaves.
The same wind brushes through its hair.
The same rain quenches its thirst
There must be something more there…

Then I ran across a heart carved into that old trees bark.
Two lovers wanting future passers by to know
that they walked this path hand in hand
and stopped here long ago.

And I wondered how many lovers this old oak tree…
since he was planted under the land…
has seen walk by his aging bark…together…hand in hand.

If this old oak tree could talk …if it wasn't, by nature, mute
could it tell me how much love it's seen…Since it has taken root?

How many hands have caressed his bark?
How many smiles has he felt?
How many times has he heard, "I love you"
at his base…where lovers knelt?

And I wondered if that is the key to this tree…
what makes him stand so tall above…
Years of lovers walking by hand in hand
who have stopped to share their love…

Now I smile every time I wander this path
when that old oak tree comes into view…
for without saying a word he has come to show me
exactly what love can do.