Suibhne of Argyll was a Druid who wrote prophecies and poetry, he lived in a yew tree for an entire year as a bird. Suibhe's poetry is entwined with treelore and is read almost like a magic formula. In the following passage, he elaborates the virtue of the trees of the woods, of the sacred grove:

"Thou oak, bushy, leafy,
Thou art high beyond trees;
O hazlet, little branching one,
O fragrance of hazel-nuts.

O alder, thou art not hostile,
Delightful is thy hue,
Thou art not rending and prickling
In the gap wherein thou art.

O little blackthorn, little thorny one;
O little black sloe tree;
O water cress, little green-topped one,
From the brink of the ousel[?] spring.

O minen of the pathways,
Thou art sweet beyond herbs,
O little green one, very green one,
O herb on which grows the strawberry.

O apple-tree, little apple-tree,
Much art thou shaken;
O quicken, little berried one,
Delightful is thy bloom.

O briar, little arched one,
Thou grantest no fair terms,
Thou ceasest not to tear me,
Till thou hast thy fill of blood.

O yew-tree, little yew-tree,
In churchyards thou art conspicuous;
O ivy, little ivy,
Thou art familiar in the dusky wood.

O holly, little sheltering one,
Thou door against the wind;
O ash-tree, thou baleful one,
Hand weapon of the warrior.

O birch, smooth and blessed,
Thou melodious, proud one,
Delightful each entwining branch
In the top of thy crown.

The aspen a-trembling;
By turns I hear
Its leaves a-racing -
Meseems 'tis the foray!

My aversion in woods -
I conceal it not from anyone -
Is the leafy stirk of the oak
Swaying evermore."


The next poem is Taliesin's Cad Goddeu, a Welsh poem known as The Battle of the Trees.


"The alder-trees, at the head of the army,
Formed the advance guard,
The willows and the service trees
Lined up behind them,
The plums, which are rare,
Astound the men.

The new medlars
Were a pivot to the battle,
The bushes of thorny roses
Struggle against a great mass,
The raspberries, ranged in thickets,
Showed as no others
How fragile is life.

The privet and the honeysuckle
With ivy on the front line
Set off into battle with the gorse.
The cherry-tree handled the aggressors,
The birch, despite his noble mind,
Was placed at the rear,
Not because of his cowardice,
But because of his height.
The golden clover proved
To the stranger how wild was his nature.

The pines stood at the front
In the centre of the fray
Which I exalted greatly
In the presence of the kings.
The elm and his followers
Did not move a foot.
They fought against the centre
Against the flanks and the rear.

Of the hazel-trees, one could see
That their warlike rage was most great.
Lucky the privet's role,
He was the bull of battle, the master of the world.
Morawg and Morydd
Did great deeds in the shape of pines.
The holly was spattered with green,
He was of all the most valiant."

The trees in these poems correspond closely to the Ogham letters. More importantly, they reveal to us the essential story of the Druidic initiate reciting lore of the woodland, singing praises of the denizens of the forest.