'Weeping Willow' Wins

On April 29 at Bushnell Park in Hartford, Liam Cotter, fifth grader at thewas one of eight students to be honored by the Connecticut Tree Protection Association.  Cotter wrote the winning poem for New Haven County entitled “Weeping Willow.” 

One winner was chosen from each of Connecticut’s eight counties. 

After reading his poem aloud, Cotter and his fellow winners planted a Jefferson Elm in Bushnell Park to commemorate 

Cotter also play the clarinet in the Walsh Intermediate School Band and plays basketball and baseball. 

Weeping Willow

Oh Weeping Willow don’t you cry
for your name it sounds so sad.
Your branches bend and hang so low
yet your body towers high.

Each ring we see around your trunk
would let us know your age.                                                                                   
We’d see the wisdom that you have                                                      
as if you were a sage.

A hundred secrets you could tell
of stories people told.                                                                   
They sat beneath your mighty shade
and let their thoughts unfold.

You give us oxygen so we can breathe
each and every day.
I’ll climb your branches easily
for together we will play.

Squirrels take refuge in your trunk                                                
while birds have built their nests.
You never seem to mind them there
or consider them a pest.

Your milky sap is used to cure
so people feel well.
The benefits of this mighty tree
are too numerous to tell. 

Oh Weeping Willow don’t you cry
for you are my favorite tree.
I love to sit beside you
because you let me be me.