I am a retired Church of Scotland minister and 92 years of age.

Originally I had tried to make this a song to the tune of O Waly Waly but it ended up as nine verses and can only be regarded as a poem. I sung it at two churches and was surprised by the demand for words. Would Life and Work readers be interested in it? I appreciate it’s very simplistic, but it is from my heart.

I Was A Tree

I was a tree in Galilee,

My green leaves grew abundantly,

There birds did sing as they flew free,

And children laughed as they climbed on me.

Cartoon: Bill McArthur

Men cut me down and stripped me bare,

No sound of birdsong filled the air,

They made a rugged cross of me,

Carted me to a hill called Calvary.

Day by dày men died on me,

They cursed the air, they even cursed me,

It was a dreadful place to be,

That evil hill called Calvary.

Men took me down from Calvary,

There a blood-stained man awaited me,

With his touch I remembered I was a tree,

Together we stumbled towards Calvary.

They nailed that broken man to me,

A false Messiah they claimed was he,

A crown of thorns adorned his head.

‘Father forgive them’. were the words he said.

All day he hung there nailed to me,

A dying man for all to see,

He bowed his head and as he died,

A spear was thrust into his side.

They. took us down, this man and me,

Friends bore him away from Calvary,

They left me there, as his blood dried,

A dying thief on either side.

Some three days on, the word was spread,

That he had risen from the dead, I know it’s true, it’s plain to see,

Someone Divine was nailed to me.

I’m ashes now, no more a tree,

Men made a cruel cross of me,

But my Spirit cries to the heavens above,

‘I’m now the sign of the Saviour’s love’.

Hamish G Smith, Letham, Angus