The Money Tree by Thomas E. Sobon

Imagine how easy your life would be,
if money like apples could grow on a tree.
Each morning as money would ripen and drop
you’d go to the tree and harvest the crop.

All of that money would come to you free,
providing of course that you owned the tree.
The tree would be yours if you planted the seed
and nurtured and cared for its every need.

You’d be rewarded with bushels of cash,
and cash in this world is surely not trash.
The problems it solves are more than a few,
and money can buy many extras for you.

You’d shop for a car with a bushel of “ones.”
For a house you could spend “ones” by the tons.
Like a king in his castle you’d have command
of all you surveyed all over the land.

While you imagine (what would be the harm?)
instead of one tree, have a money tree farm?
Since each piece of money is denominated,
grow what you want of what’s circulated.

Then harvest your “ones” from a Washington plant,
“tens” from a Hamilton and “fifties” from a Grant.
A Franklin would grow “hundreds” for you.
What more could you want your trees to do?

But money from trees, whatever the gender,
nowhere in this world, could be legal tender.
In the struggle for power or the scramble for pelf,
for success in this world, rely on yourself.

So do for yourself what you’d do for the tree
if the tree was the kind that grew money for thee.
You plant the seed when you make it your will,
to learn all you can then use that with skill.

When you’re in your youth do the best that you can,
to learn all you could until you’re a man.
You’ll find as you live, until you are dead,
you’re going to lead, or else you’ll be led.

When you learn something new, you’re feeding the tree.
As you did what you’d do, the reward goes to thee.
The learning and doing develop your skills.
The money you earn can then pay your bills.

The greatest of trees, will grow their roots first.
And as they grow up, they grow with a burst.
Their strength, like courage, endures any storm.
While trees that are weaker underperform.

Ideas, you’ll find, like seed for a tree,
take root and grow to what they can be.
A knowledgeable man with ideas profound
can overwhelm others who he could astound.

The winner is he who knows that to do
and has the courage to see it all through.
Nothing can stop the man who has skill,
providing he shows it’s backed with his will.

His knowledge is such he clearly will see
that he, himself, is his money tree.
To look somewhere else would be a mistake
and foolishly lead to bitter heartbreak.

So make learning and doing an everyday habit.
When opportunity knocks, reach out and grab it.
Remember the Bible’s, “Seek and you’ll find.”
To your life’s potential do not be blind.