I LONGED to love a full-boughed beech
⁠And be as high as he:
I stretched an arm within his reach,
⁠And signalled unity.
But with his drip he forced a breach,
⁠And tried to poison me.

I gave the grasp of partnership
⁠To one of other race—

A plane: he barked him strip by strip
⁠From upper bough to base;
And me therewith; for gone my grip,
⁠My arms could not enlace.

In new affection next I strove
⁠To coll an ash I saw,
And he in trust received my love;
⁠Till with my soft green claw
I cramped and bound him as I wove . . .
⁠Such was my love: ha-ha!

By this I gained his strength and height
⁠Without his rivalry.
But in my triumph I lost sight
⁠Of afterhaps. Soon he,
Being bark-bound, flagged, snapped, fell outright,
⁠And in his fall felled me!