Our Causarina Tree

The poetess writes this in reminiscence of the Casuarina tree that grew in the courtyard of her childhood home. The poem opens with a description of the tree, tall enough to make it seem like it touches the stars, strong enough to continue growing despite scars on its trunk and despite all this it provides support to a creeper. And yet she gives it the air of a Gentleman when she describes how the tree is forever adorned with flowers and birds and bees. Thus we see the tree in her childhood was not only as a paragon of strength, but gentle and loved by the birds and bees.
She goes on to tell us about the mornings in her childhood when she would wake up to the sight of the Casuarina Tree. Come summer or winter, her morning would remain incomplete without the sight of the Casuarina tree, often with a baboon sitting on its crest. She then paints a serene picture of the morning with the kokilas singing, the cows on the pasture and the water lilies in the spring. However, the figure of the Casuarina tree stands central in this picture, as it does in the morning and even in the life of the poetess.
In the third stanza the poetess tells us why she holds the Casuarina tree dear. It is not just the magnificence of the tree that drew her to it, but there was an emotional bond to the tree as well. It was under the shade of the tree that she and her friends played as children. Whenever she saw the Casuarina tree she was reminded of her childhood and the time she spent with her friends. She held her childhood friends in great regard and the tree was a symbol of the experiences they had. It was for this very reason that she loved the Casuarina tree and would remember her friends whenever she thought of it.
The poetess, in the fourth stanza, also talks of how the “lament” of the tree can be heard by her even when she is far away, off the coasts of France and Italy. She hears this song whenever she’s near the coasts, strolling under the moonlight, and is reminded of the