The Tao Of An Old Tree Poem by Tom Billsborough

Neglected is this worthless tree
Gnarled, knotted, hunched antiquity,
Reminding me of me!
The Woodman shakes his head.
No thanks!
Tis useless for those polished planks
To make a raised deck on the lawn..
(Lethal as a scaffold after rain) .
And yet to me it has much charm,
Providing me with welcome shade,
As, indolent within that glade,
I contemplate the fortune of its future
Its useless nature freeing it from harm.