English Trees in Innocence
For Charles Randall Stanfield
The broad-limbed trees of perished English years
And centuries are witnesses to realms
Long gone. A duke or princess disappears
While tallest peerages, the oaks and elms,
Continue in their reign. They spread their arms
To welcome in the decades that will pass
Them, through them, all around them, shedding harms
And leaves both equally. These trees amass
A grandeur emperors would envy, yet
These peerages do not cause havoc in
Their fields like regal warriors. Trees beget
Their dynasties in saplings lacking sin.
..How fell the actions of a king must be
….To cause a massacre beneath a tree.