Birches by Robert Frost

My friend Doug Petty told me that he had been reminded of the poem Birches by Robert Frost.
It starts out like this...

WHEN I see birches bend to left and right
Across the line of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay.
Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. ...

You can read the entire poem at this URL

http://www.bartleby.com/104/66.html

I can tell you right now that I wish I was able to write poetry like this. The pictures Frost drew in words are vivid and imaganitive. I thank Doug for showing me this.

It is easy to see why he was reminded of the poem. When you drive the streets of Ames you can see the damage the last storms did to our trees. I saw one tree on Ninth Street that had two big limbs broken. One from each side of the main trunk. I suppose the entire tree will have to be taken down. There are piles of branches in the parking all over town. It is hard to see but in some ways it will be all right. This is nature's way of pruning the trees.

Nature has systems in place for recovery after this type of storm. It may be rough but it will, in the end, recover. So there is probably a lesson to be learned from this storm. No matter how tough things seem to be there are systems in place to help you to recover. We just have to learn and remember the lesson. Stay warm - be happy!