Huge elm, with rifted trunk all notched and scarred, Like to a warrior's destiny! I love To stretch me often on thy shadowed sward, And hear the laugh of summer leaves above; Or on thy buttressed roots to sit, and lean In careless attitude, and there reflect On times, and deeds, and darings that have been -- Old castaways, now swallowed in neglect; While thou art towering in thy strength of heart, Stirring the soul to vain imaginings, In which life's sordid being hath no part. The wind of that eternal ditty sings Humming of future things, that burn the mind To leave some fragment of itself behind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A WOMAN'S ANSWER by ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER TO IRELAND IN THE COMING TIMES by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS OCTOBER FROM A BUS WINDOW by ELLA MCBRIDE BALLEW INVITATION TO PETERHEAD by JAMES HAY BEATTIE CHRISTMAS MORNING by RICHARD BECK JERUSALEM; THE EMANATION OF THE GIANT ALBION: CHAPTER 2 by WILLIAM BLAKE SUNDERED PATHS by MATHILDE BLIND EVENING by SYLVIA HORTENSE BLISS MAXIMS FOR THE OLD HOUSE: THE HEARTH by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH |