At Matsue, There was a Camellia Tree of great beauty Whose blossoms were white as honey wax Splashed and streaked with the pink of fair coral. At night, When the moon rose in the sky, The Camellia Tree would leave its place By the gateway, And wander up and down the garden, Trailing its roots behind it Like a train of rustling silk. The people in the house, Hearing the scrape of them upon the gravel, Looked into the garden And saw the tree, With its flowers erect and peering, Pressed against the shoji. Many nights the tree walked about the garden, Until the women and children Became frightened, And the Master of the house Ordered that it be cut down. But when the gardener brought his axe And struck the trunk of the tree, There spouted forth a stream of dark blood; And when the stump was torn up, The hold quivered like an open wound. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HE FELL AMONG THIEVES by HENRY JOHN NEWBOLT THE MOURNER A LA MODE by JOHN GODFREY SAXE A COWBOY'S WORRYING LOVE by JAMES BARTON ADAMS SPRING THOUGHTS by FLORENCE E. BALDWIN HYMN WRITTEN IN DESPONDENCY by ANN ELIZA BLEECKER FO'C'S'LE YARNS: 1ST SERIES. DEDICATION by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN THE CORSAIR by GEORGE GORDON BYRON OBSERVATIONS IN THE ART OF ENGLISH POESY: 22. ELEGIAC VERSE: THE FIFTH EPIGRAM by THOMAS CAMPION |