A Most Peculiar Tree

It is a most peculiar tree,
Towering up to 100 feet high
In the Oregon forest,
A colorful hardwood evergreen,
That sheds its bark
But not its leaves.
Its trunk is coarse,
Black and crusty,
But its branches and limbs
Are deep reddish brown
Much of the year,
With smooth elegant lines
That stretch naked
To their leafy conclusions.
The bark peels midsummer
Revealing a white underside
Exposing green below.
The new bark gradually darkens
Back to reddish brown.
When the trees
Grow old and die,
Their limbs turn black as coal.
The trees depend
On the surrounding forest
To shield them from the wind
Because their roots
Are very shallow
And provide little anchorage
To prevent them from toppling.
Their sparse leaves
Minimize wind resistance.
The tree is known for its
Bell shaped flowers
That give off
A Jasmine like fragrance
In late Spring.
In the Fall,
The tree sports
Marble sized red berries
That draw flocks of robins.
Those foolish birds
Get roaring drunk
On the hallucinogenic juices
Of the berries,
And start dive bombing each other.
They create quite a racket
With their boisterous chirping
And intoxicated fights
Until they fall out of the trees
In a drunken stupor.
It is the Madrone tree,
A member of the Laurel family,
That is the secret
To the robins’ revelry.