A long time ago, a great uncle of mine gave me a business card with a shorter version of this poem printed on it. I was, like NINE years old at the time. It’s kind of amazing that i still have it. It lives in my wallet now, in one of the hidden and little-used pockets. (Other things that currently reside in the same location - a few of my business cards, Tonia’s business card, ACBL Life Master card, and the dollar my ex-husband paid me for the house.)
The poem made a big impression on 9-year old Audrey, and not least because it felt important that my great uncle would entrust me with such a profundity. And i held on to that card, and carry it around today, because the message is truth. It’s something to remember when life gets hard.
The tree that never had to fight,
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain,
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king,
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil,
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share,
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man,
But lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow in ease,
The stronger the wind, the tougher the trees
The farther the sky, the greater the length
The more the storm, the more the strength,
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In tree and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
This is the common law of life.
-Douglas Mallock
