A tree's leaves may be ever so good, <br />So may its bar, so may its wood; <br />But unless you put the right thing to its root <br />It never will show much flower or fruit. <br /> <br />But I may be one who does not care <br />Ever to have tree bloom or bear. <br />Leaves for smooth and bark for rough, <br />Leaves and bark may be tree enough. <br /> <br />Some giant trees have bloom so small <br />They might as well have none at all. <br />Late in life I have come on fern. <br />Now lichens are due to have their turn. <br /> <br />I bade men tell me which in brief, <br />Which is fairer, flower or leaf. <br />They did not have the wit to say, <br />Leaves by night and flowers by day. <br /> <br />Leaves and bar, leaves and bark, <br />To lean against and hear in the dark. <br />Petals I may have once pursued. <br />Leaves are all my darker mood.<br /><br />Robert Frost<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/leaves-compared-with-flowers/
