2008 Woodie Awards
The trees, the trees
Dennis McNally, S.J.
Issue date: 11/10/06 Section: Opinion
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There are so many trees right at the southeast corner of
the campus
I count eight old oaks, royal in their majestic magical
quivering.
living among us,
heroic almost.
Some a century old, grand, stately, responding to wind
and rain.
They're nestled near two old houses, capacious stone structures, elegant homes
Which became part of the campus decades before
my arrival.
It seems like the campus is a good neighbor to all
he nearby houses.
The princes of the campus court are interested in
building right there
An addition to the gymnasium; basketball is such
a marketing draw.
The houses, the trees, it seems all the lovely intercourse
Of canopy and sky which flows throughout the local
Neighborhood will now stop at our fence.
I am amazed at the amount of sadness I feel at the
potential loss of these trees.
It's such a shame, tantamount to a crime,
That their service and loyalty are given no account.
The trees,
The trees,
The essential and ephemeral trees,
Are they not our responsibility,
Our colleagues in
Finding God in all things?
Frank Lloyd Wright claimed that "a house is the noble
consort of man and the trees."
I guess I feel the loss of a Prince Albert, or Diana,
Princess of Wales, or
a grief, attendant on the gruesome end of the
Czarina Alexandra,
of her gorgeous daughters, the gracious
grand duchesses,
and the cherished lamb, the czarovitch of
all the Russias,
Or of Marie Antoinette and her tender, the dauphin,
damned to a princely prison,
devoid of family,boys to enjoy, or toys,
until his little boy's lonely death,
his heart removed, preserved, saved for burial,
a precious relic of regal proclivities and claims of
the campus
I count eight old oaks, royal in their majestic magical
quivering.
living among us,
heroic almost.
Some a century old, grand, stately, responding to wind
and rain.
They're nestled near two old houses, capacious stone structures, elegant homes
Which became part of the campus decades before
my arrival.
It seems like the campus is a good neighbor to all
he nearby houses.
The princes of the campus court are interested in
building right there
An addition to the gymnasium; basketball is such
a marketing draw.
The houses, the trees, it seems all the lovely intercourse
Of canopy and sky which flows throughout the local
Neighborhood will now stop at our fence.
I am amazed at the amount of sadness I feel at the
potential loss of these trees.
It's such a shame, tantamount to a crime,
That their service and loyalty are given no account.
The trees,
The trees,
The essential and ephemeral trees,
Are they not our responsibility,
Our colleagues in
Finding God in all things?
Frank Lloyd Wright claimed that "a house is the noble
consort of man and the trees."
I guess I feel the loss of a Prince Albert, or Diana,
Princess of Wales, or
a grief, attendant on the gruesome end of the
Czarina Alexandra,
of her gorgeous daughters, the gracious
grand duchesses,
and the cherished lamb, the czarovitch of
all the Russias,
Or of Marie Antoinette and her tender, the dauphin,
damned to a princely prison,
devoid of family,boys to enjoy, or toys,
until his little boy's lonely death,
his heart removed, preserved, saved for burial,
a precious relic of regal proclivities and claims of
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