The Fortingall Yew Poem by Sheena Blackhall

When Neolithic man with fur & stone
Roamed Scotland, one small seed begat a tree
At Fortingall, with wolf and wildness sown
It grew in stature, a yew stout and free

It shaded wild cat, beaver, Bronge Age man
And later, Roman legions from the sea
Here Pontius Pilate played within its ken
The boy who killed a breeze and bred a gale

This yew's seen Kingdoms rise & Kingdoms fail
Eternal in its ancient, siccar soil
Enduring Beltane fire, flood and hail
It watched men hunt and forage, till and toil

This tree of Knowledge, sacred churchyard queen
Grown from the heart of Scotland, stinch and royal
The mythic and the modern lie between
Its boughs like fleeting pictures in a dream