I Saw in Louisiana A Live-Oak Growing
~ Walt Whitman
I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,
All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,
Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous leaves of dark green,
And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself,
But I wonder’d how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone there without its friend near, for I knew I could not,
And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it, and twined around it a little moss,
And brought it away, and I have placed it in sight in my room,
It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear friends,
(For I believe lately I think of little else than of them,)
Yet it remains to me a curious token, it makes me think of manly love;
For all that, and though the live-oak glistens there in Louisiana solitary in a wide flat space,
Uttering joyous leaves all its life without a friend a lover near,
I know very well I could not.
Well, you know…
Love it! So tragic and beautiful. Makes me think of the friends I miss back home. Thanks for sharing.
Blessings and light
I believe the trees are located at ‘Oak Alley’, an old, restored plantation home upstream from New Orleans. Visited the place a couple of times a few years back when I lived in the area for a short time.
These trees ‘know’ things…..
These trees remind me of the Evangeline Oak tree i saw many years ago. I am uncertain if it survived Hurricane Katrina. Also we have an oak tree outside our house that is every bit as large, but not as beautiful as those live oaks.