Barren Monuments

It is not my desire to magnify their worth,
Nor weave a 'halo o're the place they graced at. time of birth,
For long ere now the dirge was sung, beauty too kits flight,
And left these poor things standing, a mockery of might. Without a bud, without a leaf.

What blight removed the bark??
And left these barren monuments; quite ghastly in the dark.
If all things have a value, appraise the worth of these,
They're only two old rotting trunks, and five denuded trees. <
br> I've noticed them in Summertime, yet more so in the Fall
Each one seemed to share in this melancholy call,
To every favored passer-by. "Don't judge this road by me,
For I am but the skeleton, of a once majestic tree."

I spoke to these poor symbols, one evening as I passed,
Reminding them that duties they had fulfilled in the past
Were of a nature dual; green beauty, yellow shade;
And that reward was due them, though seemingly delayed.

So I assigned these derelicts,as sentinals in line,
To guard the road that leads to my Indiana shrine.
And also I admonished them, to court no thought profane,
For dying after living, at the side of Southshore Lane.
- - James W. Beatty.

The Culver Citizen
Culver, Indiana Wed, Jan 14, 1931 Page 8

James W. Beatty, Chicago,' a cottager on Lake Maxinkuckee