[914] Tit for Tat

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.

      -- Christopher Morley

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