A book I once had,

  But had to let go.

  Of the Canopied Pillars that seem

  to connect Earth and Sky.

  The pages I remember;

  Clear as day;

  Of trees that graced the Place of Isles:

  House of Quercus:

  Sessile and Pedunculate;

  Have seen the latter in Parks;

  Whilst the Former on my way to the

  Two Cities on the Forth and Clyde.

  Below them on the same page;

  The tall and stately Beech.

  Silver-barked and Vibrant-leaved;

  So often seen in the district where I studied,

  Worked and Passed the edge of on my

  daily commute.

  Below it and making their own pair

  like the Quercus;

  The two members of the reduced House of Ulmus.

  Procera or minor var vulgaris,

  The Cumulonimbus Elm I have

  never seen:

  Glabra the Grand-leaved,

  The Wych Elm that led me onto

  the others.

  At the top of the next page,

  making a diagonal:

  Two members of the House of Tila or the Limes:

  Small or Large-leaved I have not crossed paths with

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  unless unknowingly:

  But their sky-reaching hybrid

  I set eyes upon daily.

  Tall, dark with arching branches:

  It’s winter buds like crimson or scarlet gloves.

  To the right of one, a tree

  called a Hornbeam.

  Another that I may have come across unwittingly.

  But one that I would like see.

  Dancing across the page bottom

  The two Birches and the Alder;

  Silver, graceful like a dropping fountain.

  Downy; must keep an eye out for one.

  An Alder used to grow over the wall from

  the front garden.

  Development Claimed it, the Buckthorns and

  the Field Maples;

  But I have never forgotten it’s dark green shape.

  Last, but not least, the one named Aspen:

  Could very well have also been over the wall;

  But three other members of the Poplar family I

  often come across:

  Grand Grey; like a giant birch or aspen.

  Powerful Railway with it’s mighty trunk and

  soaring branches

  Plus, the poplars arranged in lines like marching

  Christmas trees.

  Tall, shapely, Lombardies,

  With their own air of peace.

  Trees.

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