The Names of Trees

He’s forgotten the names of trees

Familiar faces have no names

He’s returned from alien seas

To find our father’s house in flames

He tries to read the signs

They’re in an unfamiliar tongue

Some half-remembered lines

He read when he was young

But there are days when he’ll recall

The forest in the fall

When we can walk together, and he’s fine

There are precious days like that

When he can name them all

The ash, the elm, the beech, the oak, the pine

He’s forgotten the names of trees

His thoughts are like the chattering birds

They flutter as they please

And they build their nests with scattered words

The children stop and smile

They offer him their candy bar

They sometimes stay a while

And remind him of who they are

But there are days when he’ll recall

The forest in the fall

When we can walk together, and he’s fine

There are precious days like that

When he can name them all

The ash, the elm, the beech, the oak, the pine

He’s forgotten the names of trees

He smells the land to his surprise

He’s lost in the Hebrides

A stranger to our sunny skies