 It was written in the afternoon in the intervals of some other writing . The desk was in an upstairs room , by a window looking down a wooded hill . It was written in a little notebook in which his father and mother wrote out copies of several of their poems , and , in most cases , added the date of composition . On one page the first two lines of ' Trees ' appear , with the date , February 2 , 1913 , and on another page , further on in the book , is the full text of the poem . It was dedicated to his wife 's mother , Mrs. Henry Mills Alden , who was <unk> to all her family . 
