In Celebration of Trees

Raspberry Festival 2011 featured an educational kiosk all about the Monastery trees. At the display were poems of trees and an opportunity for people to write their own poems about trees. Here are a few:

 

By Cheyenne Murano:

"I see the lovely trees: so majestic, ever strong

and when I walk among them there's no doubt that I belong.

And when the light does hit the leaves it would seem the air does glow,

and I watch for hours, filled with intrigue, and would choose to never go.

But when the time has been well-spent and night is soon to come,

I know for sure this will endure and tomorrow I'll come back home."

 

'Sacred Navajo Juniper Tree' by Irene Dompier

There it stood, when thundering spoke,
The sound of Male Thunder was loud,
Followed by Female Thunder answering softly.

Waving high, its structure in a spiraling spoke;
Its powerful bark covered trunk, rose toward the cloud,
Its leafy bowed branches extended out, shook but quietly and softly.

The Male Thunder,
The Female Thunder,
Joined together and made it rain.

Male Thunder,
Female Thunder,
Your juniper tree ever abounds a sacred beauty!

So sacred are:
Its logs that provide for a hogan home,
Its barks for insulations covered by earth mud dome.

So sacred are:
Its medicinal uses for healing,
In curative lotions or tea remedying.

So sacred are:
Its barks for a baby cradle bed,
Its strung dried berries worn by children, warding off a bad dream in bed.

Male Thunder, Female Thunder,
Your juniper tree ever abounds beauty!
With its awesome aroma scent, making  for all: “Walk In Beauty.”

 

 

By Aubrey:

"The tree grows up, toward the sky!

Mountain trees go so high.

The branches reach out for the birds to land

in a faraway place called neverland!

The trunk is strong and covered with bark

to see how long it will take to find a lark.

How beautiful is this tree to me

because trees really please me!"