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First Line: The wintry war is over, and he stands
Last Line: Leafless in may.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lewis, Michael
Subject(s): Change; Trees; Veterans; Veterans Day; War


The wintry war is over, and he stands
Bruised and bewildered there;
Stretching his thin and nervous hands
In the warm air.

The early glow's forgotten and instead
A softer tumult starts in every vein;
He feels like one a long time dead
Who lives again.

Fantastic dreams, strange wants assail him now;
He feels that he must burst in blossoms, rise
And thrust one great and jubilant bough
Into the skies.

He thinks of birds and sunlight, hopes to see
Earth as he knew it, prodigal and gay. ...
And there he stands—an old, bent tree,
Leafless in May.





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