Lovely are the Trees

There is a poem by Joyce Kilmer entited, Trees which I believe my Dad likes. He has a habit of mentioning one or two lines of certain pieces which enter his realm of thought.

Trees 

by Joyce Kilmer  

I think that I shall never see 

A poem lovely as a tree. 

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest 

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; 

A tree that looks at God all day, 

And lifts her leafy arms to pray; 

A tree that may in Summer wear 

A nest of robins in her hair; 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain; 

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me, 

But only God can make a tree. 

"It was written in the afternoon in the intervals of some other writing. The desk was in an upstairs room, by a window looking down a wooded hill. It was written in a little notebook in which his father and mother wrote out copies of several of their poems, and, in most cases, added the date of composition. On one page the first two lines of  'Trees' appear, with the date, February 2, 1913, and on another page, further on in the book, is the full text of the poem. It was dedicated to his wife's mother, Mrs. Henry Mills Alden, who was endeared to all her family ... Mother and I agreed, when we talked about it, that Dad never meant his poem to apply to one particular tree, or to the trees of any special region. Just any trees or all trees that might be rained on or snowed on, and that would be suitable nesting places for robins. I guess they'd have to have upward-reaching branches, too, for the line about 'lifting leafy arms to pray.' Rule out weeping willows." [Letter from Kenton Kilmer to Dorothy Colson in Grotto Sources file, Dorothy Corson Collection, University of Notre Dame (South Bend, Indiana) : reference Wikipedia]

I, too am partial to trees. They seem to have a way of reminding me about Life ... what is important, what is not; how one can be flexible, yet firm; how to reach out in new directions, yet have a firm base ... so many reasons to love trees.

Anyway, keeping that in mind. I needed a sympathy card and trees are a very popular theme for that. I found a great card made by Laurie which you can see HERE.  And this is the card I made:

stamps: lovely as a tree; sentiment (retired)
ink: so saffron, soft sky, crumb cake, wild wasabi, soft suede
paper: soft sky, lost lagoon, whisper white
other: lost lagoon ribbon
technique: masking, painter's tape