A Note from the Poet to the Reader

Dear Reader,

As I drove the winding roads toward the Biltmore Estate, the landscape unfolded before me like a living psalm. Mountains rose on every side in quiet, ancient majesty, their ridges soft with mist and light. Between them stood forests of trees—tall, unhurried, and triumphant—each one a testament to the creative hand of Christ.

Even the long approach through the estate’s eight thousand acres of pure beauty stirred something deep within me. Rolling hills clothed in green, towering hardwoods reaching skyward, and distant peaks glowing in the morning sun made my soul rise up in spontaneous praise. In that sacred hour of travel, surrounded by such unbroken splendour, the longing was born: to memorize every leaf, to embrace every trunk, and to give voice to the joy and victory written across this Christ-created world.

This poem is the triumphant adoration of that journey.

May your heart join mine in glad praise to Christ the Creator of mountains, trees, and light.

— The Poet

Genesis 1:11-12

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:31

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Psalm 96:11-12

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice

Psalm 104:16-17

The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

Psalm 148:7-9

Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word: Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:

Isaiah 55:12

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

John 1:3

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Colossians 1:16

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

There is such beauty in each Christ-wrought tree,

Where every leaf is shaped by heavenly art;

I long to learn their silent mystery,

And press each trunk against a reverent heart.

From ancient oak to birch that gently sways,

Their branches rise in pure and sacred praise;

The Maker’s hand has ordered all their ways,

And robed the woods in green and golden days.

O let me trace the veins of every leaf,

The whispered wisdom carried on the breeze;

Embrace the bark that speaks of joy alone,

For trees stand crowned in victory and ease.

No shadow dims these pillars of the wood;

They stand unbowed through tempest, frost, and night,

Illumined by the One who named them good,

Triumphant in His everlasting light.

And mountains lift their majesty beside,

Their summits echo glory to the Lord;

With forests joined in triumph they abide,

Where Christ’s own love is endlessly adored.

The valleys deep and ridges steep rejoice,

As living woods ascend in steadfast throngs;

Each root and stone lifts up a steadfast voice,

And joins the chorus of eternal songs.

So let me walk these halls of living green,

And hold the bark that tells of joy complete;

Then raise my gaze to peaks serene, unseen,

And praise the Christ who, as Creator, lit all beauty into radiant light.