Tree Stump

As I walked beside a house of stone,

Half-lost to years and overgrown,

I saw a weathered stump nearby,

Beneath the pale and quiet sky.

So I sat down in the grass,

Feeling lifetime's swift-on pass,

An abrupt end for a tree in the land,

And was it tall? - And was it grand?

Chorus

Impossible now to count the rings,

That marked the passing years and springs;

So many dawns its bark had known,

While seasons carved it deep in bone.

Verse 2

And so I paused in thoughtful gloom,

Beside the remnant of its bloom;

What brought the mighty old tree low,

Did age and sickness end its glow?

Or did some cold and hurried hand,

Decide no more the tree should stand?

A silent sentence, swift and grim,

With little thought once given to him.

Chorus

Impossible now to count the rings,

That marked the passing years and springs;

So many dawns its bark had known,

While seasons carved it deep in bone.

Verse 3

What birds had nested in its crown,

What weary souls had rested down,

Within the shelter of its arms,

Protected there from life’s alarms.

Though now reduced to earth and dust,

Its memory lingers, as it must;

For even fallen, old trees keep,

Their silent watch, their ageless sleep.

Chorus

Impossible now to count the rings,

That marked the passing years and springs;

So many dawns its bark had known,

While seasons carved it deep in bone.

More than a hundred years may be,

Had drifted through that ancient tree,

Through blazing sun and winters white,

Through storms of dark and gentle light.