Stumps (And Trees) I Have Loved

It's the place where we sit And play a game of cards. The biggest stump ever, In any of our yards. Once it was a chestnut tree With branches ever so high. They reached across the yard And way up to the sky. It was where a tiny crow lived, "Elvis", the children named him. He fell out of the tree as a babe But was safely put back on his limb. City officials hated the tree. Their wires ran through it's branches And with their power and telephone They wanted to take no chances. So the tree came down one day And was chopped for firewood. It heated the house the whole winter Just like a good tree should. All that's left is the stump now, It's about four feet across, So we can sit here and play cards But it's still our yards biggest loss. for Matt Caliri's "I fell in Love With a Tree Stump Contest"