Thoughts upon a Stump

I know not when the seed did fall
Upon this soft and fertile earth,
When God sent rain and sun to bless
The one to whom He’d given birth.
 
I wish I could have known you then,
When high above the earth’s soft crust
Your gentle arms reached to the sky
And earned through strength the eagles’ trust.
 
And how I wish I could have seen
You stand up to the wind and rain;
You gathered strength from every test
And turned each loss instead to gain.
 
But now your glory’s come and gone,
And now the people pass you by;
A stump they see upon the ground,
Not one who used to touch the sky.
 
And when I bent and wrinkled be,
And others seem to pass me by,
Remember then this lofty tree
And know I too once touched the sky.