The Tree With A Heart Poem by Jim Yerman

Do you believe trees have feelings? I do. It's part of my malady.
Basically, I give human characteristics to everything I see.

I was born with this affliction and I own it with dignity and grace
Besides, from where I sit, it makes the world a more alluring place.

Take the trees around my neighborhood to me they're more than works of art
I have always thought of a tree as sensitive, possessing a kind heart.

It's really not that crazy for me to think the trees might care
They do provide us all with oxygen and help to clean our air.

They allow us to climb their branches, on many trees have we all played
They provide us food and shelter and cool us with their shade.

Studies have shown that people who are sick or have lived through a disaster
When they view or in the midst of trees...heal a little faster.

Trees mark the seasons, they hold our swings, under their canopies lovers yearn
They do all these things and more...yet ask for nothing in return.

I'm not alone in thinking this...look at all the artists who have drawn them.
And if people don't think trees have hearts why do they carve so many on them?

The other day a city worker stopped by our house...in his truck tools overflowed.
His job: to trim a large tree branch that hung into the road.

We watched him prune that branch away...how quickly it was dissected
The tree, for his part, stood their stoically and never once objected.

When the man was finished unbeknownst to him...he left a work of art
The stump of the branch he left behind was the shape of a perfect heart.

As we rejoiced in our discovery nearby church bells began to ring
A tiny bird perched on that heart and a love song he did sing...

More proof that trees have hearts and those hearts are selfless and strong
Of course you didn't have to tell me...I knew it all along.