The Geode Tree

Douglas L. Love, May 1971

I climbed today this hill to see
The ever-blooming Geode Tree.
High on the Harrodsburgian hill
I found a limestone-layered rill
Beside which lay so large a stone
That from a crevice it has grown
A slender stalk--the fabled tree
That I had come so far to see.
The trunk of it an anthodite,
It rose and branched to storied height;
With Orpiment and Realgar
And ever-fragrant Cinnabar.
Rose Quartz and blooming Amethyst-
No colors of the rainbow missed;
The shiny-spiked Celestite blue
Blends with Pyrite's rich brassy hue-
And on the Stannite Twigs we see
White buds of pure Chalcedony!
A tree that came from Xanadu
I've gone today and seen for you.