OLD ARCHIBALD, in his eternal chair, Where trespassers, whatever their degree, Were soon frowned out again, was looking off Across the clover when he said to me: "My green hill yonder, where the sun goes down Without a scratch, was once inhabited By trees that injured him--an evil trash That made a cage, and held him while he bled. "Gone fifty years, I see them as they were Before they fell. They were a crooked lot To spoil my sunset, and I saw no time In fifty years for crooked things to rot. "Trees, yes; but not a service or a joy To God or man, for they were thieves of light. So down they came. Nature and I looked on, And we were glad when they were out of sight. "Trees are like men, sometimes; and that being so, So much for that." He twinkled in his chair, And looked across the clover to the place That he remembered when the trees were there. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RETROSPECT by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON PUTTING IN THE SEED by ROBERT FROST TO JOHN DONNE (1) by BEN JONSON FESSEDEN'S GARDEN by ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN FAREWELL TO THE PILGRIMS by THEODORE M. BAKKE THE SCEPTIC by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON ELIJAH AND THE PRIESTS OF BAAL: IN A TIME OF FAMINE by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |