We thought that we would never see

A suit to compensate a tree.

A suit whose claim in tort is prest

Upon a mangled tree’s behest;

A tree whose battered trunk was prest

Against a Chevy’s crumpled crest;

A tree that faces each new day

With bark and limb in disarray;

A tree that may forever bear

A lasting need for tender care.

Flora lovers though we three,

We must uphold the court’s decree. —J.H. Gillis, Judge —Fisher v. Lowe, 1999 (Letter of the Law)

Laws are weighed by fools like him.

He’s gone too far out on this limb.