Best

Loved

Poems
BTDA 英语戏剧与表达在线认证等级考试

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目录
Introductory Poems ( 短小诗歌，入门练习 ) 1
CAT 2
DREAMS 2
IF YOU CATCH A FIREFLY 3
LITTL THINGS 3
MINE 4
MY BEST FRIEND 4
NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY 5
NOW WE ARE SIX 5
RAIN 6
SNOWBALL 6
THE CUCKOO 7
THE FLIGHT OF TIME 7
THE LITTLE TURTLE 8
THE SUN AND THE MOON 8
WHAT ARE HEAVY? 9
WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND 9

Crystal Award C1-C2 ( 建议年龄：8-10 岁 ) 10

ABOUT THE TEETH OF SHARKS 11
CATCH A LITTLE RHYME 12
COLOR 13
HOME IS WHERE THERE IS ONE TO LOVE US 14
LIFE 15
LIGHT 15
MY ROCK 16
NOISY NOISY 17
SWEET AND LOW 17
THE COUNTRY AND THE CITY  18
THE RAINBOW 19
THE TOOTHLESS WONDER 20
TO CATCH A FISH 21
VINEGAR 22
Crystal Award C3-C4 ( 建议年龄：10-14 岁 ) 23
A FEW RULES FOR BEGINNERS 24
CATERPILLARS 25
CLARINET 26
EARTH DAY 26
MY LEMONADE STAND 27
THREE GATES 28
SAID THE TOAD 28
SUNFLAKES 29
THE PROMISE 29
THE SWING 30
YOUNG NIGHT THOUGHT 31

Crystal Award C4-C5 ( 建议年龄：14-18 岁 ) 32

ANSWER TO A CHILD’S QUESTION 33
COUNTRYWOMEN 34
MY LUVE’S LIKE A RED, RED ROSE 35
MY SHADOW 36
SONNET 18 37
STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING 38
THE ANIMAL STORE 39
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN 40
THE WORM 41
TO A FRIEND 42
VOICES OF THE AIR 43
WHENEVER YOU SEE A TREE 44
 Introductory

短小诗歌
短小 诗歌
入门练习

1
入门练习

CAT
ANONYMOUS

I prefer
warm fur,
a perfect fire
to lie beside,
a cozy lap
where I can nap,
an empty chair
when she's not there.
I want heat
on my feet

DREAMS
on my nose
on my hide.
No cat I remember BY LANGSTON HUGHES
dislikes December
Hold fast to dreams,
inside.
For if dreams die.
Life is a broken-winged bird ,
That can never fly.
Hold fast to dreams,
For when dreams go.
Life is a barren field,
Frozen only with snow.

2
 入门练习

IF YOU CATCH A
FIREFLY
BY  LILIAN MOORE

If you catch a firefly

and keep it in a jar
You may find that
you have lost
A tiny star.

If you let it go then,

back into the night,
You may see it
once again
Star bright.
LITTLE THINGS
BY JULIA A. FLETCHER

Little drops of water,

Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.
Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.

3
入门练习

MINE
BY LILIAN MOORE

I made a sand castle.

In rolled the sea.
 "All sand castles
 belong to me—
to me,"
said the sea.

I dug sand tunnels. MY

In flowed the sea.
 "All sand tunnels BEST
 belong to me—
to me,"
said the sea.
FRIEND BY ABBY JENKINS

Black and white

I saw my sand pail floating free.
Thick and furry
I ran and snatched it from the sea.
Fast as the wind
"My sand pail
Always in a hurry
belongs to me—
Couple of spots
to ME!"
Rub my ears
Always comes when his name he hears
Loves his ball; it's his favorite thing
What's most fun for him? Everything!
Great big tongue that licks my face
Has a crate, his very own space
Big brown eyes like moon pies
He's my friend till the very end!

4
 入门练习

NOTHING GOLD
CAN STAY
BY ROBERT FROST

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day. NOW WE
Nothing gold can stay.
ARE SIX BY  A. A. MILNE

When I was one,

I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six,
I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

5
入门练习

RAIN
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

The rain is raining all around,

It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ship at sea.

SNOWBALL BY SHEL SILVERSTEIN

I made myself a snowball

As perfect as could be.
I thought I'd keep it as a pet
And let it sleep with me.
I made it some pajamas
And a pillow for its head.
Then last night it ran away,
But first it wet the bed.

6
 入门练习

THE CUCKOO
ANONYMOUS

In April,
Come he will,
In May,
Sing all day,
In June,
Change his tune,
In July,
Prepare to fly,
In August,
Go he must!
THE FLIGHT
OF
TIME ANONYMOUS

Swift the moments fly away,

First the hour, and then the day;
Next the week, the month, the year. 
Go away and disappear.
Time is always on the wing,
When I speak, or thick, or sing;
When I work,  or sleep,  or play,
Time is flying fast away.

7
入门练习

THE LITTLE
TURTLE
BY VACHEL LINDSAY

There was a little turtle.

He lived in a box.
He swam in a puddle.
He climbed on the rocks.

He snapped at a mosquito.
He snapped at a flea.
He snapped at a minnow.
And he snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.

He caught the flea.
He caught the minnow.
But he didn't catch me.
THE SUN
AND
THE MOON ANONYMOUS

The sun is round and very bright, 

He shines and gives us light.
Then he goes to sleep at night
And sends his brother,  Mr. Moon
Who floats on high like a white balloon.

8
 入门练习

WHAT ARE HEAVY?

BY  CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

What are heavy? Sea-sand and sorrow;

What are brief? Today and tomorrow;
What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth;
What are deep? The ocean and truth.

WHO HAS
SEEN THE
WIND BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

9
Crystal Award

C1-C2
建议年龄：8-10 岁

10
Crystal Award C1-C2

ABOUT THE TEETH OF

SHARKS
BY  JOHN CIARDI

The thing about a shark is—teeth,

One row above, one row beneath.

Now take a close look. Do you find

It has another row behind?

Still closer—here, I’ll hold your hat:

Has it a third row behind that?

Now look in and...Look out! Oh my,

I’ll never know now! Well, goodbye.

11
 Crystal Award C1-C2

CATCH A LITTLE
RHYME BY EVE MERRIAM

Once upon a time

I caught a little rhyme

I set it on the floor

but it ran right out the door

I chased it on my bicycle
but it melted to an icicle

I scooped it up in my hat
but it turned into a cat

I caught it by the tail

but it stretched into a whale

I followed it in a boat
but it changed into a goat

When I fed it tin and paper

it became a tall skyscraper

Then it grew into a kite

and flew far out of sight ...

12
Crystal Award C1-C2

COLOR
BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

What is pink? a rose is pink

By a fountain's brink.
What is red? a poppy's red
In its barley bed.
What is blue? the sky is blue
Where the clouds float thro'.
What is white? a swan is white
Sailing in the light.
What is yellow? pears are yellow,
Rich and ripe and mellow.
What is green? the grass is green,
With small flowers between.
What is violet? clouds are violet
In the summer twilight.
What is orange? Why, an orange,
Just an orange!

13
 Crystal Award C1-C2

HOME IS WHERE THERE

IS ONE TO LOVE US BY CHARLES SWAIN

Home’s not merely four square walls,

Though with pictures hung and gilded;
Home is where Affection calls—
Filled with shrines the Hearth had builded!
Home! Go watch the faithful dove,
Sailing ’neath the heaven above us.
Home is where there’s one to love!
Home is where there’s one to love us.
Home’s not merely roof and room,
It needs something to endear it;
Home is where the heart can bloom,
Where there’s some kind lip to cheer it!
What is home with none to meet,
None to welcome, none to greet us?
Home is sweet, and only sweet,
Where there’s one we love to meet us!

14
Crystal Award C1-C2

LIFE
BY LANGSTON HUGHES

Life can be good,

Life can be bad,
Life is mostly cheerful,
But sometimes sad.
Life can be dreams,
Life can be great thoughts;
Life can mean a person,
Sitting in court.
Life can be dirty,
Life can be even painful;
But life is what you make it,
So try to make it beautiful. LIGHT
BY FRANCIS W. BOURDILLON

The night has a thousand eyes,

The day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun.
The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When its love is done.

15
 Crystal Award C1-C2

MY ROCK BY PAT MORA

Summer’s ending.
I sit on my desert rock, listen
to the world’s hum.
Crows and ravens caw,
finches and sparrows chirp. A dog barks.

Can I face
the halls of judgments?
A breeze strokes my face,
brings me back to spiders
and lizards busy at their chores,
private conversations—
sights and sounds I savor.
This earth, my home.

High on the vast blue canvas,

clouds curl, float.

Taking a deep breath, I gather myself.

 I bring what I am.

16
Crystal Award C1-C2

NOISY NOISY
BY JACK PRELUTSKY

It's noisy, noisy overhead,

the birds are winging south,
and every bird is opening
a noisy, noisy mouth.

They fill the air with loud complaint,

they honk and quack and squawk—
they do not feel like flying, SWEET
but it's much too far to walk.
AND LOW BY ALFRED TENNYSON

Sweet and low, sweet and low,

Wind of the western sea,
Low, low, breathe and blow,
Wind of the western sea!
Over the rolling waters go,
Come from the dying moon, and blow,
Blow him again to me;
While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.
Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,
Father will come to thee soon;
Rest, rest, on mother’s breast,
Father will come to thee soon;
Father will come to his babe in the nest,
Silver sails all out of the west
Under the silver moon:
Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep.

17
 Crystal Award C1-C2

THE COUNTRY AND THE

CITY 
ANONYMOUS

Some people live in the country 

Where the houses are very small,
Some people live in the city
Where the houses are very tall. 
But in the country where the houses are small，
The gardens are very big, 
And in city where the houses are tall，
There are no gardens at all.
Where do you live?

18
Crystal Award C1-C2

THE RAINBOW
BY CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Boats sail on the rivers,

And ships sail on the seas;
But clouds that sail across the sky
Are prettier far than these.
There are bridges on the rivers,
As pretty as you please;
But the bow that bridges heaven,
And overtops the trees,
And builds a road from earth to sky,
Is prettier far than these.

19
 Crystal Award C1-C2

THE TOOTHLESS
WONDER BY PHIL BOLSTA

Last night when I was sound asleep,

My little brother Keith
Tiptoed into my bedroom
And pulled out all my teeth.

You’d think that I would be upset

And jump and spit and swear.
You’d think that I would tackle Keith
And pull out all his hair.

But no!   I’m glad he did it.

So what if people stare.
Now, thanks to the Tooth Fairy,
I’ll be a millionaire!

20
Crystal Award C1-C2

TO CATCH A FISH
BY ELOISE GREENFIELD

It takes more than a wish

to catch a fish
you take the hook
you add the bait
you concentrate
and then you wait
you wait  you wait
but not a bite
the fish don’t have
an appetite
so tell them what
good bait you’ve got
and how your bait
can hit the spot
this works a whole
lot better than
a wish
if you really
want to catch
a fish

21
 Crystal Award C1-C2

VINEGAR BY J. PATRICK LEWIS

It was such a lovely day

Till I stumbled in the way
Of a van that carries vinegar to stores.
When I glared up at the man—
Operator of the van—
He said, “Vinegar, it never rains but pours!”

Now a skunk was standing by.

And I thought that I would cry
From the vinegar that sprayed and soaked my clothes,
When the driver kindly yells,
“Watch that animal. It smells!”—
And the skunk ran off, a hankie to her nose.

22
 Crystal Award

C3-C4
建议年龄：10-14 岁

23
Crystal Award C3-C4

A FEW RULES FOR

BEGINNERS
BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

Babies must not eat the coal

And they must not make grimaces,
Nor in party dresses roll
And must never black their faces.
They must learn that pointing's rude,
They must sit quite still at table,
And must always eat the food
Put before them-if they're able.
If they fall, they must not cry,
Though it's known how painful this is;
No-there's always Mother by
Who will comfort them with kisses.

24
 Crystal Award C3-C4

CATERPILLARS
BY BROD BAGERT

They came like dewdrops overnight

Eating every plant in sight,
Those nasty worms with legs that crawl
So creepy up the garden wall,
Green prickly fuzz to hurt and sting
Each unsuspecting living thing.
How I hate them!   Oh, you know
I’d love to squish them with my toe.
But then I see past their disguise,
Someday they’ll all be butterflies.

25
Crystal Award C3-C4

EARTH
DAY BY JANE YOLEN

I am the Earth
CLARINET
BY CHERA HAMMONS
And the Earth is me.
Each blade of grass,
Each honey tree,
Apart, we are two quiet things: Each bit of mud,
a person and an instrument. And stick and stone
I in my body, Is blood and muscle,
the clarinet in its case. Skin and bone.

We are like good friends. And just as I

The clarinet takes nothing away from me. Need every bit
It lets me borrow its notes. Of me to make
My body fit,
If I loan it my breath, So Earth needs
I can speak with its sweet voice. Grass and stone and tree
Together, we will make a world And things that grow here
full of song. Naturally.

That’s why we
Celebrate this day.
That’s why across
The world we say:
As long as life,
As dear, as free,
I am the Earth
And the Earth is me.

26
 Crystal Award C3-C4

MY LEMONADE
STAND
BY REBECCA KAI DOTLICH

Cookies for sale!

And cake! One dime!
That's what it says
on my cardboard sign.
I pile cookies on a plate.
I eat just one
and then, I wait . . . 
I taste the cake
(one tiny slice)
I squeeze the lemons
and stir the ice;
I count and stack
the paper cups . . . 
fresh lemonade
is coming up!
I count the bruises
on my knee . . .
won't somebody buy something,
please?

27
Crystal Award C3-C4

THREE GATES
BY BETH DAY

If you are tempted to reveal

A tale to you someone has told
About another, make it pass,
Before you speak, three gates of gold.
These narrow gates: First, “Is it true?”
Then, “Is it needful?” In your mind
Give truthful answer.And the next
Is last and narrowest, “Is it kind?” SAID THE
And if to reach your lips at last
It passes through these gateways three, TOAD BY J. PATRICK LEWIS
Then you may tell the tale, nor fear
What the result of speech may be. I was really in a muddle
looking over a mud puddle
'cause I didn't have a paddle
or a twig to ride the reef.
But I said, Oh, fiddle-faddle,
this is just a little piddle
of a second fiddle puddle
so I saddled up a leaf.
I set sail on the puddle,
but I reached the muddy middle
and I rocked the leaf a little,
then I gave it all I had.
And I solved the mighty riddle
of the whole caboodle puddle
when I hopped up on the middle
of a beetle launching pad.

28
 Crystal Award C3-C4

Sunflakes
BY FRANK ASCH

If sunlight fell like snowflakes,

gleaming yellow and so bright,
we could build a sunman, The Promise BY JANE HIRSHFIELD
we could have a sunball fight,
we could watch the sunflakes Stay, I said
drifting in the sky. to the cut flowers.
We could go sleighing They bowed
in the middle of July their heads lower.
through sundrifts and sunbanks, Stay, I said to the spider,
we could ride a sunmobile, who fled.
and we could touch sunflakes— Stay, leaf.
I wonder how they'd feel. It reddened,
embarrassed for me and itself.
Stay, I said to my body.
It sat as a dog does,
obedient for a moment,
soon starting to tremble.
Stay, to the earth
of riverine valley meadows,
of fossiled escarpments,
of limestone and sandstone.
It looked back
with a changing expression, in silence.
Stay, I said to my loves.
Each answered,
Always.

29
Crystal Award C3-C4

The Swing
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

How do you like to go up in a swing, 

   Up in the air so blue? 
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing 
   Ever a child can do! 

Up in the air and over the wall, 

   Till I can see so wide, 
Rivers and trees and cattle and all 
   Over the countryside— 

Till I look down on the garden green, 

   Down on the roof so brown— 
Up in the air I go flying again, 
   Up in the air and down!

30
 Crystal Award C3-C4

YOUNG NIGHT
THOUGHT BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

All night long and every night,

When my mama puts out the light,
I see the people marching by,
As plain as day, before my eye.
Armies and emperors and kings,
All carrying different kinds of things,
And marching in so grand a way,
You never saw the like by day.
So fine a show was never seen
At the great circus on the green;
For every kind of beast and man
Is marching in that caravan.
At first they move a little slow,
But still the faster on they go,
And still beside them close I keep
Until we reach the Town of Sleep.

31
Crystal Award

C4-C5
建议年龄：14-18 岁

32
Crystal Award C4-C5

ANSWER TO A CHILD’S
QUESTION BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

Do you ask what the birds say?

The sparrow, the dove,
The linnet and thrush say, “I love and I love!”
In the winter they’re silent—the wind is so strong;
What it says, I don’t know, but it sings a loud song.
But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm weather,
And singing, and loving—all come back together,
But the lark is so brimful of gladness and love,
The green fields below him, the blue sky above,
That he sings, and he sings; and for ever sings he— “I love my Love, and
my LOVE loves me!”

33
 Crystal Award C4-C5

COUNTRYWOMEN
BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

These be two
Country women.
What a size!
Great big arms
And round red faces;
Big substantial
Sit down places;
Great big bosoms firm as cheese
Bursting through their country jackets;
Wide big laps
And sturdy knees;
Hands outspread,
Round and rosy,
Hands to hold
A country posy
Or a baby or a lamb—
And such eyes!
Stupid, shifty, small and sly
Peeping through a slit of sty,
Squinting through their neighbors' plackets.

34
Crystal Award C4-C5

MY LUVE’S LIKE A
RED, RED ROSE BY ROBERT BURNS

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose,

That’s newly sprung in June:
O my Luve’s like the melodie
That’s sweetly played in tune!
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only Luve,
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile.

35
 Crystal Award C4-C5

MY SHADOW
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing; about him is the way he likes to grow—
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.
He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward, you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

36
Crystal Award C4-C5

SONNET 18
  BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course,
untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

37
 Crystal Award C4-C5

STOPPING BY WOODS ON
A SNOWY EVENING
BY ROBERT FROST

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

38
Crystal Award C4-C5

THE ANIMAL STORE BY RACHEL FIELD

If I had a hundred dollars to spend,

    Or maybe a little more,
I’d hurry as fast as my legs would go
    Straight to the animal store.

I wouldn’t say, “How much for this or that?”

    “What kind of a dog is he?”
I’d buy as many as rolled an eye,
    Or wagged a tail at me!

I’d take the hound with the drooping ears

    That sits by himself alone;
Cockers and Cairns and wobbly pups
    For to be my very own.

I might buy a parrot all red and green,

    And the monkey I saw before,
If I had a hundred dollars to spend,
    Or maybe a little more.

39
 Crystal Award C4-C5

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

By ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

40
Crystal Award C4-C5

THE WORM
BY RALPH BERGENGREN

When the earth is turned in spring

The worms are fat as anything.

And birds come flying all around

To eat the worms right off the ground.

They like the worms just as much as I

Like bread and milk and apple pie.

And once, when I was very young,

I put a worm right on my tongue.

I didn't like the taste a bit,

And so I didn't swallow it.

But oh, it makes my Mother squirm

Because she thinks I ate that worm!

41
 Crystal Award C4-C5

TO A FRIEND
BY GRACE STRICKLER DAWSON

You entered my life in a casual way,

And saw at a glance what I needed;
There were others who passed me or met me each day,
But never a one of them heeded.
Perhaps you were thinking of other folks more,
Or chance simply seemed to decree it;
I know there were many such chances before,
But the others—well, they didn’t see it.
You said just the thing that I wished you would say,
And you made me believe that you meant it;
I held up my head in the old gallant way,
And resolved you should never repent it.
There are times when encouragement means such a lot,
And a word is enough to convey it;
There were others who could have, as easy as not—
But, just the same, they didn’t say it.
There may have been someone who could have done more
To help me along, though I doubt it;
What I needed was cheering, and always before
They had let me plod onward without it.
You helped to refashion the dream of my heart,
And made me turn eagerly to it;
There were others who might have (I question that part)—
But, after all, they didn’t do it!

42
Crystal Award C4-C5

VOICES OF THE AIR

BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD

But then there comes that moment rare

When, for no cause that I can find,
The little voices of the air
Sound above all the sea and wind.
The sea and wind do then obey
And sighing, sighing double notes
Of double basses, content to play
A droning chord for the little throats—
The little throats that sing and rise
Up into the light with lovely ease
And a kind of magical, sweet surprise
To hear and know themselves for these—
For these little voices: the bee, the fly,
The leaf that taps, the pod that breaks,
The breeze on the grass-tops bending by,
The shrill quick sound that the insect makes.

43
 Crystal Award C4-C5

WHENEVER YOU SEE A

TREE BY PADMA VENKATRAMAN

Think
how many long years
this tree waited as a seed
for an animal or bird or wind or rain
to maybe carry it to maybe the right spot
where again it waited months for seasons to change
until time and temperature were fine enough to coax it
to swell and burst its hard shell so it could send slender roots
to clutch at grains of soil and let tender shoots reach toward the sun
Think how many decades or centuries it thickened and climbed and grew
taller and deeper never knowing if it would find enough water or light
or when conditions would be right so it could keep on spreading leaves
adding blossoms and dancing
Next time
you see
a tree
think
how
much
hope
it holds

44
 Through 我讲故我在

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