The centerpiece of the Safe Harbor Arboretum (see separate entry) is a large Silver Maple trunk. Some 200 inches in circumference and perhaps 150 years old when it died, this snag now has a Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typina) sprouting from its top.
Forty-five years ago (1974), this tree hosted the wedding of Bill Swearingen and Karen Hollinger. “I believe that the poem, ‘The Message of a Tree’ may have been mounted on the frame that you see in the photo of Sandy Zerby, the woman playing guitar,” Bill’s sister Paula noted. “If it is the same poem, it was later remounted on a different frame.”
Paula later wrote me:
You were right when you remarked about the bride probably selecting the location. The tree was an important feature for her, and there is a funny twist to it. She was not really at all familiar with the identification of tree species. But, she had incorporated the Kahlil Gibran piece on marriage that refers to an oak and cypress not grow- ing in each other’s shadows (see below). And she had the cake decorated with oak leaves. The fellows were all members of the “Hot Shots” Forest Fire Crew and knew their trees. George, the shorter man, evidently broke it to Karen that it was a Silver Maple and not an oak.
This Silver Maple offers a poignant example of “a giving tree.” While alive, it provided a memorable backdrop for the optimistic bonding of a young couple in matrimony; as such, it was as spiritual a setting as any cathedral could provide. Now in death it gives even yet, providing substrate and nourishment for the springing of new life.
[Wedding photos are from Helen “Pat” Hess. The first poem below is by Mary Carolyn Davies (1888-1940)]
