.

The Trees: A Moment

Amongst the trees in such a wood
That veils the sky with vaults of green,
In sudden joyous peace I stood
As nature did in full convene;
The leaves and boughs above my head,
A narrow path which elsewhere led.

Outside the sun revealed the blue,
Yet little of its light there shone,
The subtle rays persisting through
Adopted green to dance upon
The roots and plants that paved the ground—
This lustrous haze was all around.

No sound disturbed—the calm sustained—
The wind but fluttered through the leaves
Whose rustled, whispered, hush contained
Such salience as oft deceives:
This quiet’s soothing complement
But made the silence prominent.

Each breath of air conveyed the love
Of nature’s richest nourishment;
When birds, untroubled, float above
Their breathing shares that sentiment:
The vigour gained as I inhaled—
All respiration since has failed.

This earth-defying harmony
Embraced me in the forest’s heart;
And it was thus reluctantly
That I did from those trees depart:
I took the path I had before
But dreamt of staying evermore.

.

.

Elliot Christophers is a 20-year-old English student studying economics in Stockholm. 

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9 Responses

  2. jd

    Beautiful poem, Elliot. I see a green (ever-growing) poetic future for you. Thank you for a perfect morning read. (You have no doubt guessed that I love trees too.)

    Reply
  3. Russel Winick

    Wow – Elliot, you’re a metrical prodigy! You have a magnificent poetry career ahead of you, which I’ll be watching.

    Reply
  5. Paul Freeman

    A 20-year-old Economics student!

    The spirit of Wordsworth is alive in you, Elliot.

    Thanks for the read.

    Reply
  8. Janice Canerdy

    As a seventy-year-old who has been in love with rhyme, meter,
    personification, nature, etc., for decades, I say this is an exceptional poem!

    Reply
  9. Margaret Coats

    I join the chorus of praise for the color and the music. I would advise remembering to care for little things like grammar and punctuation as well. Lines 5 and 6 form a fragment sentence, and thus it would be better to have a colon or comma (not a semi-colon) at the end of line 4.

    I especially like the unusual statement in lines 17 and 18. It is normal to say that silence makes a certain sound prominent, but to say that soothing little sounds make the silence prominent takes creativity, and demands close cooperation from your readers. May you have many of them!

    Reply

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