Prayer of the Woods

Posted by Barbara (Florida, United States) on 18 January 2008 in Transportation.

Prayer of the Woods~
I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights,
the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun,
and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your thirst as you journey on.
I am the beam that holds your house.
The board of your table. The bed on which you lie, and the timber that builds your boat.
I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your homestead, the wood of your cradle, and the shell of your coffin.
I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty.
Ye who pass by, listen to my prayer: Harm Me Not.(Prayer is posted on a sign greeting visitors entering Tahquamenon Falls in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan, USA. Even with evidence of the presence of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882, known for his poem Hiawatha, I see no credit for writing of Prayer of the Woods)
129