This is a little rhyme for kids who are a bit different, whether they’re four, forty or a hundred and four. Its also for those who never had a problem growing really straight.

The wiggly pine
couldn’t stand in line
while all the others stood still.
What made Him wiggle?
What made Him jiggle?
Why was he such a pill?

Why couldn’t he see
that to be a tree
he must stand straight and tall?
Why didn’t he know
that to really grow
he must not dare to fall?

Life didn’t seem real;
I just couldn’t feel
what all you other trees could.
Though I really tried
I leaned to one side–
It made me feel quite good!

I felt the tall brush
press my bark and crush
against me as I leaned down.
“Excuse me,” I said,
then I turned my head
and heard the nearby town.

If I bent just right
I could see the light
poppin’ o’er the hill just there.
Its exciting, see?
Don’t you want to be
alive, complete, aware?

Now, look, over here,
do you see that deer?
Wonder just how her fur feels. . .
I leaned a little
and solved the riddle:
she’s soft–and off she steals!

In the sun so warm
and throughout each storm,
I hear my branches swaying.
They stretch to the sky,
chase birds as they fly,
in line they’re just not staying!

I’m just not the same.
Do we need to blame?
Do I have to be like you?
I just need to move,
gotta feel the groove;
but I’m a pine through and through.

Well, you know, said one,
It sure does look fun!
I can see why he would be
such a wiggly pine,
and I think he’s fine.
He’s really quite a nice tree.

All the other trees
said, “Well, if you please,
we really don’t mind at all.
Bend, wiggle and lean,
we won’t be so mean.
We will catch you if you fall.”

Then wiggly pine,
he started to shine;
his heart grew happy and big. . .
and he felt so good
growing in that wood
that he tried to dance a jig!

He felt such a part
that soon he did start
to grow straight up toward the sun.
Then he looked around,
he looked toward the ground,
and said, “Hey, guys, that was fun!”

The wiggly pine
was now truly fine;
He was really very smart–
and his friends were sure
he had taught them more;
he grew just right from the start.

©Joan T Warren