BIrch

The first tree
Of the OGHAM alpahabet
From the sanscrit
Word which means
the bark that you can write on
BHURGA sets our scenes
It is Very much like paper
Ruled by venus Culpepper said
The first tree to come back to leaf
In spring thus it has led

Renewal and purification
It makes for a fine maypole
Bundles of birch for the besom
And clearly its true role
to drive out spirits of the old year
And enrich the early soul

Fly agaric and chantarelles
Do like to dance and play
In the forest where rhe birches grow
It kind of makes their day
Bluebells love the birch trees
Violets and mosses too
Home of the chaga mushroom
Especially good for you

Where it grows
It improves the soil
For other souls to grow
With male and female catkins
In many ways it does show
A lead in sensitivity
And the powdery white
Can be protection to the skin in sun
Rubbed On Helps to fight

The sap can be drawn off
To drink, it be the druid drink
Good for spring at the equinox
Better than some might think
ExhilarAting and purposeful
And its leaves can surely be
Made into a tisane
For cystitis and for gout
And strips of bark applied upon
muscle pain can out
A tough and heavystraight grained wood
Used for cradles For the nation
Very good for turning
And whisky distillation

In Druidry the druids tree
Is the oak
The bards the birch
The ovate picks the Yew
And the hazel
For the few
Who take to devining water
Trees are the patient who
stay the course
With the utmost force
With oxygen anew

Thankful for the CO2
That we share
Thats what we do
BERK And BEITHE
In place names show
The birches
Where they love to grow

BIrkenhead BERKHAMSTED