Law Common Of Life

The tree that never had to fight
for sun and sky and air and light
but stood out in the open plain
and always got its share of rain
never became a forest king
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 strongest 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 trees and men good timber grows.

Where thickest lies the forest growth
we find the patriarchs of both
and they hold counsel with the stars
whose broken branches show the scars
of many winds and strife
this is the common law of life.


(By Douglas Mallock)