The Gaunts’ House Tree

I think of myself as gnarled

With a wonderful twist

I’m attractive,

In mist

Part of the pack, yet

apart, at the back

I’m not trying to hide:

I’m in front, from the side

With light in my leaf and

bone in my bark:

It’s in swaying and shadows

that I make my mark

I sense that I’m old and

I know that I’ll stay

And I think that I’ll thrive

until the day when

I fall in a gale

on a wild winter’s night

In the spring there’s a gap

To let in the light

Find your gap

Take your place

Dance your life

Never race

And know that the world

Has been lit

By your grace

The Gaunts’ House Tree

Read to mark the planting of the Ashridge Consulting Holm Oak at
Ashridge: May 13 2013