Every time I climb a tree
Every time I climb a tree
Every time I climb a tree
I scrape a leg
Or skin a knee
And every time I climb a tree
I find some ants
Or dodge a bee
And get the ants all over me.
And every time I climb a tree
Where have you been?
They say to me
But don't they know that I am free
Every time I climb a tree?
David McCord's poem
came to mind
as I watched the boys nextdoor
climbing the lovely old tulip tree.
Two boys are hidden amongst the welcoming branches
already
(or it may be the black skirt of Margaret Mahy's
Witch from The Cherry Tree..)
and I'm thinking
Oh to be sitting in a tree up high
out of sight..
dreaming of sailing ships
and far away places.
Old Grand Daddy tree
smiles at the
scrambling and clinging
and joyful
adventuring...
I'm remembering
a childhood of great freedom.
Oh yes,
and plenty of skinned knees
and scraped legs.
No lasting scars
but sweet, sweet memories.
One of my favourite places to be, when I was a boy. A sense of escape and achievement.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteLovely, Joan. It brought back memories of my tree climbing days -- a tree house in an oak, a bag swing on a jacaranda, a picnic spot within a banyan, a punk tree (melaleuca) limb that stood in for a horse. . .
ReplyDeleteOh I love your trees Vicki.
DeleteSounds perfect Vicki.. my sister and I rode pine branch horses.
ReplyDeleteMartin.. That's it exactly Escape and achievement.
What a delightful poem Joan. We used to climb trees for hours when I was a child, with no adults to call us down. I even fell out of one once, trying to do a Tarzan/Jane type swing. Such happy days.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful poem, Joan, and a delightful post.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Joan. We kids climbed many a tree once upon a time. I'm sorry I haven't been by in a while. Something happened when Google changed its format. I'm not computer literate enough to know what. Anyway, your blog appears on my list but it won't give me a feed (or so the pop up says). So I'm going to click Follow again and see what happens. You're going into spring as we go into fall. Ah, a lovely change of the seasons. At least, I hope so. Mother Nature skipped our winter last year. Of course, if more people here paid attention to global warming and mended their ways. *sighs*
ReplyDeleteMissed ya post!
Beautiful, Joan. We kids climbed many a tree once upon a time. I'm sorry I haven't been by in a while. Something happened when Google changed its format. I'm not computer literate enough to know what. Anyway, your blog appears on my list but it won't give me a feed (or so the pop up says). So I'm going to click Follow again and see what happens. You're going into spring as we go into fall. Ah, a lovely change of the seasons. At least, I hope so. Mother Nature skipped our winter last year. Of course, if more people here paid attention to global warming and mended their ways. *sighs*
ReplyDeleteMissed ya beautiful posts!