This is probably my favorite poem in this packet, although reading this poem the first time left me kind of unsure of what to think. Was Moss talking simply about a tree that knew another tree that just died or was there a deeper meaning behind it? I suppose that if one were to apply human characteristics to a tree, one could find an answer to that. I thought of the tree in the poem as the younger brother to the tree that lived to be four thousand eight hundred and sixty-two years old before being cut down. I see the younger tree as always looking up to his older brother as we as children often look up to an older sibling; wishing we could be just like him/her and live as fully as he/she did. In the poem it talks about how strong the older tree was in his extreme weather and how many other tree friends he had. It also talks of a mother figure wanting the younger tree to be like the older one. I think this reflects on how sometimes people want you to be like someone else because they view you as not being good enough how you are. I think the last line "Sooner or later, some bag of wind will cut me down." shows the pointlessness behind trying to be someone else. If you only have one life to live then you should live it as yourself and be happy with the ones you love. I do believe that is the main idea of this poem by Stanley Moss.
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