Can you imagine this scenario? You are sitting on the porch with your grandfather; he is sitting in his favorite rocking chair. As he gazes out at the horizon, you recognize the reflective expression of his eyes. With respect and admiration for your grandfather you wait in anticipation, knowing you are about to hear a jewel of knowledge, experience and wisdom, meant to be passed on to future generations.
“I think that I shall never see/ A poem as lovely as a tree,” wrote Joyce Kilmer a century ago, in lines that have become some of the most familiar in American literature.