If only the aged trees could speak, <br />What tales they might have to recite. <br />This giant oak has stood for years, <br />Having grown to a massive height. <br /> <br />And as the decades have done their time, <br />So many things they must have seen, <br />As the centuries of human life, <br />Have passed across this Village Green. <br /> <br />Smart gentry and also tired labourers, <br />Staunch farmers and shy parlourmaids. <br />Coy lovers in their starry-eyed loitering, <br />Sly poachers intent on their trades. <br /> <br />Nannies with their precious charges <br />Out for a long summer stroll. <br />Travellers trudging through the snow <br />To reach their eventual goal. <br /> <br />Then the era of impressive aeroplanes <br />Bravely cruising the limitless skies. <br />The motor cars and the charabancs, <br />Each one a mechanical prize. <br /> <br />Wars, battles and bombs have come and gone, <br />Generations have passed away. <br />But still the stalwart trunk stands firm, <br />To observe yet another day. <br /> <br />If only the aged trees could speak, <br />I would answer them in return. <br />I’d sit ‘neath their branches, lost in awe. <br />Oh, there’s so much that I could learn. <br /> <br /> <br />© Ernestine Northover<br /><br />Ernestine Northover<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/so-much-that-i-could-learn/
