The Heart of a Tree

What does he plant who plants a trunk?

He plants the friend of sun and sky;

He plants the flag of breezes free;

The shaft of beauty towering high;

He plants a home to heaven anigh,

For song and mother-croon of bird

In hushed and happy twilight heard—

The treble of heaven’s harmony—

These things he plants who plants a tree.

What does he plant who plants a tree?

He plants, in sap and leaf and wood,

In love of home and loyalty

And far-cast thought of civic good—

His blessings on the neighborhood,

Who in the hollow of His hand

Holds all the growth of all our land—

A nation's growth from sea to sea

Stirs in his heart who plants a tree.

—Henry Cuyler Bunner.