The Dance of Trees
(tune: "Gabriel to Mary Came"/Traditional Irish)
Words by Beth Wheeler
1994

I stopped and stood in wintery wood
With fields upon its margin
Moon shone down upon the ground
And turned the snow to argent
There, in the night, so daytime bright
Saw I a strange and wonderful sight
Without a breeze the boughs of trees
Lifted up and swayed
And then began to move
Then all the trees with grace and ease
They danced and played
And in and out they wove

Oak and pine began the line
As ash struck up a measure
Birch and fir began to stir
And then joined in with pleasure
Cedar deferred without a word
Bowed to the elm, who never stirred
So root and branch with graceful stance
Did blithely trot
And pass the whole night through
And so did chance in the woodland's dance
My eye was caught
And my wonder ever grew

When at last the night was past
And stars shone ever paler
Leaf and bole together stole
Back to the woodland's veil
Then it did seem, within the gleam
Of rising sun, a far-off dream
But on the morn, when all forlorn
I sought that wood
To prove the vision's worth
That field was shorn, rutted and torn
Nor snow yet stood
Upon the root-tracked earth