The morning sun lay on the bark
Trees weathered by the seasons,
Would need to lose a few worn limbs
Wet snow and wind the reasons.

Limbs and leaves will provide cool shade
To shelter the place I’ll sit
And listen to the summer winds
Blow songs and secrets through it.

Let nature’s peace sweep over you,
As the sun flows into trees,
Drop all your worries from within
Like leaves float on autumn breeze.

Nothing can quite compare
To the stillness brought at dawn
Only broken by the songbirds
Pulling worms from the dampened lawn

So many different musical notes
Echoes bouncing from tree to tree
I think they are trying to say
God’s made another day just for me

I also had four uncles that worked on the farm in its early years. One of those uncles, Joe Thomas, also wrote rhyming quatrains; the impulse to write everyday poems about life and the beauty of Vermont’s landscape seems to run in the family.

Initially, I only wrote poems occasionally; however, after both a falling accident that required months of bed rest and the death of my father, I began to take more notice of the beauty and the peace in the things that I see and hear every day. And I began to take note and to write more frequently.

I no longer live on the farm, but live nearby and work still brings me there almost every day. I also no longer take “simple” things for granted and try to capture these moments in words. It is a very rich heritage and one for which I am truly grateful.

—Rick Bessette