Trees: A Poem

Harry Behn's poem, written in simple but delicate rhyme, feels like a Haiku poem. The poem is compressed into short verse that moves the tree from season to season. The poem is about the relationship of the reader to a tree and the tree's relationship to the world.. Through the kindness of the tree, a bird's nest finds it's home, colorful leaves drop at Halloween, and fruit is given to us. The tree lives above us. It is the first to feel the touch of the sun in the morning and the moon at night. The illustrations , by James Endicott move across the page like a quiet dance. Each pictures shows a detail of the tree as it makes it's transformation throughout the year in simple lines and curves that is reminiscent of Japanese drawing. By the end of the book we have seen, both in words and pictures, day turning into night, the seasons changing and are reminded that one tree's kindness has been seen and felt through the eyes of many generations