One of the Oldest and Most IntensivelyStudied Forests in North America

In Harvard Forest, trees
eye each passerby
in silent scholastic gloom—
such focus could petrify
the strongest folk that walk
this earth—and when they talk

they sway the continents
in every branch of life.
They carve initials on
our breath with just the knife
of photosynthetic science.
Their roots in self-reliance

turn worlds green with envy,
driving arms to the axe
—there’s nothing left to do
but raise the property tax
on every acre of wood.
There goes the neighborhood.

~Gregory Perry 2004