Tree Legacy

The poem Plant a Tree by Lucy Larcom, gets misunderstood that a tree is an endless legacy. That small acts in life, like a little seed, will last for all time.

But even trees die, and I think about that when I plant a tree or say a kind word because I think that the temporariness of it all is why it is so important.

Plant a Tree

by Lucy Larcom (1824–1893)

He who plants a tree

Plants a hope.

Rootlets up through fibers blindly grope;

Leaves unfold into horizons free.

So man's life must climb

From the clods of time

Unto heaven’s sublime.

Canst thou prophesy, O tree,

What the fruit of this life shall be?

He who plants a tree

Plants a joy;

Plants a comfort that will never cloy;

Every day a fresh reality,

Beautiful and strong,

To whose shelter throng

Creatures blithe with song.

If thou couldst but know,

O tree,

What joy thou art to me!

He who plants a tree

Plants peace.

Under its green curtain jargons cease,

Leaf by leaf he crops unceasingly

From the unquiet thought;

Would that multitudes

Thronged its solitudes—To its cool depths have sought

What the unresting world hath not!

He who plants a tree

Plants youth;

Vigor won for centuries in truth;

Life of time, that hints eternity.

Boughs their strength uprear;

New shoots every year

On old growths appear.

Thou shalt teach the ages, tree!

Not for me alone art thou green.

He who plants a treePlants love.

Tents of coolness spreading out above

Wayfarers he may not live to see.

Gifts that grow are best;

Hands that bless are blest;

Plant! Life does the rest.

Heaven and earth help him who plants a tree,

And his work is blest eternally.

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