Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest North Carolina Nantahala Forest

Trees

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

-Joyce Kilmer

Named in memory of famous poet Joyce Kilmer, best known for the above poem, Trees, Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is appropriately named. Filled to the brim with some of the most jaw dropping trees in the Appalachian Mountains, this example of an old growth cove hardwood forest transports you away from the mountains and to a place that feels to many to be straight from a poem.