Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO A SILVER BIRCH by BEULAH JACKSON CHARMLEY

First Line: I NEVER KNEW UNTIL I CROSSED THE PRAIRIE
Last Line: FOR NOW AT LAST I SEE.
Subject(s): FRONTIER & PIONEER LIFE; PRAIRIES; TREES; PLAINS;
I never knew until I crossed the prairie
The value of a tree;
Of shade forevermore shall I be chary
For now at last I see,

With eyes that looked on miles and miles of plain land,
Dusty and hot and dry,
Acres and acres of lonely golden grain land
Reaching from sky to sky.

I come to stand beneath your singing branches,
Of trees the faery queen,
To live within the glen your shade enhances,
A lover of your sheen.

Your beauty shakes my heart like purple thunder
Upon a mountain peak,
For leaf and branch and bole an awesome wonder
Have grown, I cannot speak.

I never knew until I crossed the prairie
The value of a tree;
Of shade forevermore shall I be chary
For now at last I see.



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