Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HANGING TREE, by GEORGIA PERLE SCHMIDT



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE HANGING TREE, by                    
First Line: A gnarled old tree trunk with shoots
Last Line: "forgives and saves the soul."
Alternate Author Name(s): Schmidt, G. Perle
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Trees; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


A gnarled old tree trunk with shoots
Sticking straight up like the quills
Of the porcupine that gnaw its many
Years' seasoned wood. It is long
Since in this southern clime
It was a tall wide-branched tree
Draped with Spanish moss and vine.

A tree that stood in solitude
Where nettles, cacti, mesquite
And Queen Anne's Lace twined
With Indian Carpet to hide the place
Where wolves and coyotes growled
And snarled over the morsels dropped
When the buzzards quarreled.

Today the tale is told:
"This once was called the Hanging Tree.
Here men died, who wanted life.
Men who stole or shot or loved
Died here on this virgin plot.
Died with ropes around their necks
Sent to death by mobs gone wild."

Horses lathered with dust and foam
Bore here men with wide-brimmed hats,
Men who enforced the law; the law
Of the lariats. Now we pause to stare
In awe at death's trysting tree, to read
On a carved stone scroll, "To the memory
Of the Outlaw. Names unknown. God alone
Forgives and saves the soul."





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