This Good Timber poem print features Douglas Malloch’s enduring meditation on strength, struggle and personal growth. The complete poem appears in black handwritten-style lettering over a tranquil watercolour landscape, with a pale turquoise sky fading into layered pine forests in shades of teal, blue and purple. The misty woodland design gives this inspirational poetry wall art a calm yet quietly resilient character.
Drawing upon Malloch’s experience as the “Lumberman’s Poet,” Good Timber compares human character to trees competing for sunlight and enduring wind, cold and storms. Its central metaphor suggests that strength is developed through resistance: the tallest trees and most capable people are shaped by what they have survived. Broken branches and scars are presented not as signs of failure, but as evidence of perseverance and hard-won growth.
Professionally printed and mailed to you, this artwork is available framed or unframed. It makes a meaningful graduation gift, recovery gift or encouragement present for someone facing adversity, beginning a new career or rebuilding after a difficult season. Nature lovers, fathers, sons, mentors and anyone who values determination will appreciate its honest reminder that worthwhile growth rarely happens without effort.
UNFRAMED PRINT INFO:
MEDIUM: Photographic Fine Art Print (UNFRAMED)
SIZE: Please choose from the drop-down menu - Common print sizes are: 5x7, 8x10, 8.5x11, A4, 11x14, 12x16, 16x20, 18x24, and 24x36. Custom sizing is available, please send a message before completing your purchase to check the price of your custom size.
About your print:
Printed professionally on high-quality photographic paper (NOT cheap card stock!) with a beautiful lustre finish (closely related to matte) with a slight sheen, using archival inks that will last for years.
It arrives carefully wrapped, unmatted, and unframed.
FRAMED PRINT INFO:
Frames are available in the following sizes: 8x10", 11x14", 12x16", 16x20", 18x24", 24x36"
- Ayous wood .75″ (1.9 cm) thick frame from renewable forests
- Paper thickness: 10.3 mil (0.26 mm)
- Paper weight: 5.57 oz/yd² (189 g/m²)
- Lightweight
- Acrylite (Acrylic) front protector
- Hanging hardware included
- Available in Black, White, and Natural Wood - The default color is black but if you would like to change the color to white or natural wood, leave a message in the "message to seller" box at checkout.
PLEASE NOTE:
-Shipping upgrades are not available for framed prints.
-The framed print option does not include a mat
*** Looking for a downloadable file? You can order it here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/825353685
-------
Thank you for reading the description! Use the code "DESCRIPTION15" to receive 15% off your order of unframed prints.
"The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees,
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life."
This Good Timber poem print features Douglas Malloch’s enduring meditation on strength, struggle and personal growth. The complete poem appears in black handwritten-style lettering over a tranquil watercolour landscape, with a pale turquoise sky fading into layered pine forests in shades of teal, blue and purple. The misty woodland design gives this inspirational poetry wall art a calm yet quietly resilient character.
Drawing upon Malloch’s experience as the “Lumberman’s Poet,” Good Timber compares human character to trees competing for sunlight and enduring wind, cold and storms. Its central metaphor suggests that strength is developed through resistance: the tallest trees and most capable people are shaped by what they have survived. Broken branches and scars are presented not as signs of failure, but as evidence of perseverance and hard-won growth.
Professionally printed and mailed to you, this artwork is available framed or unframed. It makes a meaningful graduation gift, recovery gift or encouragement present for someone facing adversity, beginning a new career or rebuilding after a difficult season. Nature lovers, fathers, sons, mentors and anyone who values determination will appreciate its honest reminder that worthwhile growth rarely happens without effort.
UNFRAMED PRINT INFO:
MEDIUM: Photographic Fine Art Print (UNFRAMED)
SIZE: Please choose from the drop-down menu - Common print sizes are: 5x7, 8x10, 8.5x11, A4, 11x14, 12x16, 16x20, 18x24, and 24x36. Custom sizing is available, please send a message before completing your purchase to check the price of your custom size.
About your print:
Printed professionally on high-quality photographic paper (NOT cheap card stock!) with a beautiful lustre finish (closely related to matte) with a slight sheen, using archival inks that will last for years.
It arrives carefully wrapped, unmatted, and unframed.
FRAMED PRINT INFO:
Frames are available in the following sizes: 8x10", 11x14", 12x16", 16x20", 18x24", 24x36"
- Ayous wood .75″ (1.9 cm) thick frame from renewable forests
- Paper thickness: 10.3 mil (0.26 mm)
- Paper weight: 5.57 oz/yd² (189 g/m²)
- Lightweight
- Acrylite (Acrylic) front protector
- Hanging hardware included
- Available in Black, White, and Natural Wood - The default color is black but if you would like to change the color to white or natural wood, leave a message in the "message to seller" box at checkout.
PLEASE NOTE:
-Shipping upgrades are not available for framed prints.
-The framed print option does not include a mat
*** Looking for a downloadable file? You can order it here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/825353685
-------
Thank you for reading the description! Use the code "DESCRIPTION15" to receive 15% off your order of unframed prints.
"The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees,
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life."