Keinton Mandeville

An exceptional fragment of a tree whose original size we can only guess at. The whole structure leans slightly and supports a large number of branches, with healthy and thick foliage. Propped inside the tree is a stone containing the following words:
‘Here stands a tree long past its prime, yet still
Most wonderfully hale and vigorous;
Centuries are trifles wherewith to tell
The glorious story of its lengthy days;
As well attempt a colosseum huge
With golden sands from off the sea-swept shore
As herald its triumphant battle with
The ephemeral things we mis-name time.
Time! It mocks at time and all the puny race
Of men, long since passed in generations
To the land beyond this vale of sorrow
While its umbrageous branches, vernal yet
And glowing with the strength and sap of life,
Seem to defy the raging tempest and
The thing called death – To work their worst abuse.
As phoenix like from glowing ashes rise
Its wonted fires, as ever on it lives
Co-equal with – and of – eternity.
JOHN HUGH CHALKER 1863 – 1936