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Dedicated to Elaine Lawrence

the artist who inspired the title

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 samara seed

you birth life to the birch

flowering  into the clustered catkins

blooming your fragrance

row after row

tree after tree

light green to forest green

your brown young trunk stands strong in your group

as you drink in the water from the sweet earth

slender, tall eloquent bearers of truth

you stretch your limbs high and wide

each twig of your arbor beauty

stretching out into the blue abyss

urging us to follow the call

as you age your chalky white bark of papery layers beckons secret messages of the heart

to those who may once discover them somewhere down the road

drawing together the lovers

who reverence you so

over the ages you have given of yourself so many times

your spirit so pliable…your quality malleable

as a child i thought of the Oneida people who fashioned a canoe out of your River Birch trunk

so willingly you carried them across Mother Earth’s river road

your beauty is enchanting

graceful delicate foliage

ethereal birch

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Notes of Interest Regarding the Birch Tree

• Birch trees are well known for their impressive peeling bark common to all birches, except the Gray Birch.
• Young birch trees have a brown trunk and is smooth in its younger years  and turn chalky white, become thick and deeply ridged as they age.
• Leaves are oval to elliptical-shaped and vary in color from light green to forest green in the summer, changing to yellow, browns and oranges in the Fall season.
• The uses of birch bark are many: can be soaked in water to be used as a cast for broken bones; used for crafting artistic items; used for constructing canoes; also used for medicinal purposes–to alleviate stomach ailments
• Beavers use Birch trees to build dams.
• Many animals, including birds, deer, moose rabbits, and turkeys use the Birch tree as a source of food.
• Birch trees are relatively hardy –able to live up to 200 years in favorable growing conditions.
• Catkins are the flowers of the Birch tree.
• In Germany, on May 1st, young men would decorate Birch trees and leave them in front of their sweetheart’s house. The birch tree was a token of their love.