Old Timber

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out on the open plain
and always got it's share of rain,
But lived and died a scrubby 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 tree 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 shows the scars
Of many winds and much of strife
This is the common law of life.

Author Unknown.
Don Tolman International.