Trees

Hubby and I both like trees, and it saddens us greatly to see their destruction for profit.
When my Dad died, Mum said one of his favourite pieces of music had been ‘Trees’.
I immediately thought of ‘I talk to the Trees’ from Paint your Wagon, but Mum said that wasn’t the one.
My music had always been important to me, and many of the pieces I played were reminiscent of someone in particular, so I was somewhat disappointed as I could play ‘I talk to the Trees’, but had never heard of Trees.

Somehow, Mum managed to get hold of a copy of the sheet music so that I could play it.
This was in fact a bit of a problem for me as even though I knew my notes, reading music had always been difficult, but once I knew the tune, I could improvise the rest, albeit in the wrong key.
I took the music into a shop in the precinct which sold electronic keyboards.
I had no intention of buying one, but asked the assistant if he could sight read, and would he kindly play this piece for me.
I explained why and he was quite happy to oblige, playing it three or four times until I got the melody in my head and could tap it out ‘my way’.

It was recorded by Perry Como, but I never mastered it proficiently enough to remember it and I’ve always regretted it.
But saying that, each time I look at a tree, I think of my Dad, the same as a lilac rose reminds me of his father, my grandfather.

Trees

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Poem by Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)
Music written in 1922 by Oscar Rasbash