poems

Trees Need Not Walk the Earth

April 2025, Canada celebrates National Poetry Month with a heartfelt theme: family. This theme invites us to explore the intricate connections that define our lives, from the bonds with parents and siblings to the love shared with pets and soulmates. It encourages reflection on friendships that feel like family, even the nurturing of plants that bring life into our homes.

Poetry serves as a lens through which we can examine the shape of family, highlighting the intergenerational impact of our ancestors and how their legacies influence the generations that follow. Through this exploration, we find a deeper understanding of love, support, and the shared experiences that unite us all.

https://youtu.be/4jfe4eph_4w?si=6xqELsgNnYhY9VW0

Five years ago, I recorded a recitation of David Rosenthal’s poem “Trees Need Not Walk this World.” Recently, I stumbled upon this recording, which resonated with me as it highlights the theme of families within nature. The tone of the writing is reflective and nostalgic, evoking a sense of connection to both the poem and the familial themes it explores.

Trees Need Not Walk the Earth

By David Rosenthal

Trees need not walk the earth
For beauty or for bread;
Beauty will come to them
Where they stand.
Here among the children of the sap
Is no pride of ancestry:
A birch may wear no less the morning
Than an oak.
Here are no heirlooms
Save those of loveliness,
In which each tree
Is kingly in its heritage of grace.
Here is but beauty’s wisdom
In which all trees are wise.
Trees need not walk the earth
For beauty or for bread;
Beauty will come to them
In the rainbow—
The sunlight—
And the lilac-haunted rain;
And bread will come to them
As beauty came:
In the rainbow—
In the sunlight—
In the rain.
This poem is in the public domain.

Spring Blossoms, Park and Tilford Gardens, North Vancouver, British Columbia (Rebecca Budd photo archives March 2020)

This April I am celebrating the profound connections that poetry fosters within our families. When I read and recite poetry, I am grateful for the bonds that unite us across generations. Together, let us continue to explore and create poetry that honours our familial ties, cherishing the stories that shape our identities and inspire future generations. In the spirit of togetherness, may we embrace the power of words to bring us closer, weaving a tapestry of memories that enrich our lives and celebrate the essence of family.

As Maya Angelou reminds us: “Family isn’t always blood, it’s the people in your life who want you in theirs: the ones who accept you for who you are, the ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what.”

Thank you for sharing this spacial moment with me,

Rebecca

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/rebeccas-reading-room/episodes/Trees-Need-Not-Walk-This-Earth-by-David-Rosenthal-e31cpjl/a-absmekg