The Tree

The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light

But stood out in the open plain

And always got a share of rain

Never became a forest king

But lived and died a crabby thing.

The man who never had to toil

To gain and farm his patch of soil

Who never had to win his share

Of sun and sky and light and air

Never became a manly man

But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease

The stronger wind, the stronger trees

The further sky, the greater length

The more the storm

The more the strength

By sun and cold

By rain and snow

In trees and men

Good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth

We find the patriarchs of both

And they hold counsel with the stars

Whose broken branches

Show the scars.

Of many wind and much of strife

This is…’The Common Law of Life’.

Sir Rajiv

10^th July 2020