Front:
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.
VVENVALE
SO HITIANOA
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.
- Joyce Kilmer
PHOTOS COURTESY-SOUTHERN REGION,
U. S. FOREST SERVICE
OB-H33
Back:
JOYCE KILMER MEMORIAL FOREST lies far
back in the mountains of North Carolina, near
the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. This
stand of timber, 3,800 acres in extent, is to be
preserved in perpetuity as a tribute to the
man who wrote perhaps the most widely
known poem about trees.
Beneath one of the giant hemlock trees,
w amidst the breath-taking beauty of misty
waterfalls, cascades and profuse vegetation,
a bronze plaque, mounted on a granite
boulder, bears the simple inscription : "Joyce
Kilmer, 165th Infantry. Rainbow Division, Soldier
and Poet. Author of Trees. Born in New
Brunswick, N. J., December 6, 1886. Killed
in action in France, June 30, 1918."
147-HARRY N. MARTIN, P. O. BOX 324 ASHEVILLE, N. C.
