Del “Abe” Jones

FOREVERGREEN
(Big Tree)

For thirty-five hundred years
You’ve towered o’er this land
Almost one hundred forty feet
The great height that you stand.

Fifty thousand board feet
Of lumber, your trunk bears
Some say, “That is awesome!”
And there’s some who say, “Who cares!”

The top of you is hollow
To catch the falling rain
Like a well up in the Sky
To quench your thirst again.

Forty-seven feet around
And eighteen feet across
And if you died and fell
It would be the people’s loss.

Big Tree, it seems such a shame
That you must be fenced in
To protect you from those who
Would strip your branches and skin.

I hope future generations
Can stare at you in awe
And that you won’t fall victim to
Man’s poisons, or chain saw.

©Copyright March 2005 by Del “Abe” Jones