I often pass a gracious tree
      Whose name I can't identify,
 But still I bow, in courtesy
      It waves a bough, in kind reply.

 I do not know your name, O tree
      (Are you a hemlock or a pine?)
 But why should that embarrass me?
      Quite probably you don't know mine.

An utterly trivial, but nonetheless charming poem. One of Morley’s particular gifts is to peer at the commonplace and reveal unexpectedly viewpoints therein, and today’s poem is no exception. “Tit for Tat” is not really a ‘funny’ poem, in the laugh-out-loud sense, but it strikes a pleasing note of gentle humour and whimsy.

Links

We’ve run two of Morley’s poems:

poem #553 contains a biography and some notes on Morley

poem #833 is another nice example of a mundane detail elevated into poetry.

— Martin