The Ivy Wife

I longed to love a full-boughed beech
And be as high as he:
I stretched an arm within his reach
And signalled unity
But with his drip he forced a breach
And tried to poison me

I gave the grasp of partnership
To one of other race -
A plane: he barked him strip by strip
From upper bough to base;
And me therewith; for gone my grip
My arms could not enlace

In new affection next I strove
To coll an ash I saw
And he in trust received my love;
Till with my soft green claw
I cramped and bound him as I wove...
Such was my love: ha-ha!

By this I gained his strength and height
Without his rivalry
But in my triumph I lost sight
Of afterhaps. Soon he
Being bark-bound, flagged, snapped, fell outright
And in his fall felled me!