The birch begins to crack its outer sheath Of baby green and show the white beneath. As whosoever likes the young and slight May well have noticed. Soon entirely white To double day and cut in half the daik It will stand forth, entirely white m bark. And nothing but the top a leafy green- The only native tree that dares to lean, Relying on its beauty, to the air. (Less brave perhaps than tiustmg are the fair.) And someone reminiscent will recall How once in cutting brush along the wall He spared it from the number of the slain, At first to be no bigger than a cane, And then no bigger than a fishing pole, But now at last so obvious a bole The most efficient help you ever hired Would know that it was there to be admired, And zeal would not be thanked that cut it down When you were reading books or out of town. It was a thing of beauty and was sent To live its life out as an ornament. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 14 by OMAR KHAYYAM THE DEATH OF LYON by HENRY PETERSON SEVEN SAD SONNETS: 7. THEY MEET AGAIN by MARY REYNOLDS ALDIS PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 66. AL-I'HLAS by EDWIN ARNOLD CAVE TALK by JOSEPH WARREN BEACH A WORLD BEYOND by NATHANIEL INGERSOLL BOWDITCH |