Australian Gum Tree

Lying beneath your canopy admiring your silvery leaves
Before a wash of sky, I rest with enraptured ease.
Your foliage so appeasing in shades of blue and green
Diffusing your balmy oils thus palliative and serene.
Supplying me with oxygen, guarding my precious wealth
Reducing air’s pollution - essential to human health.
You shed your outer ribbons of bark in summer each year
Revealing a radiant surface so colourful, smooth and sheer.
Fundamentally affording Koalas substantial, nourishing feed
Generously protecting wildlife, providing homes and seed.
Native flowers oozing nectar, attract insects such as bees
Birds peck at gumnut pits and devour them easy as peas.
So grounded and assured as your roots do fondly creep
Embracing Mother Earth connected, strong and deep.