Deep in the desert's misery, <br />far in the fury of the sand, <br />there stands the awesome Upas Tree <br />lone watchman of a lifeless land. <br /> <br />The wilderness, a world of thirst, <br />in wrath engendered it and filled <br />its every root, every accursed <br />grey leafstalk with a sap that killed. <br /> <br />Dissolving in the midday sun <br />the poison oozes through its bark, <br />and freezing when the day is done <br />gleams thick and gem-like in the dark. <br /> <br />No bird flies near, no tiger creeps; <br />alone the whirlwind, wild and black, <br />assails the tree of death and sweeps <br />away with death upon its back. <br /> <br />And though some roving cloud may stain <br />with glancing drops those leaden leaves, <br />the dripping of a poisoned rain <br />is all the burning sand receives. <br /> <br />But man sent man with one proud look <br />towards the tree, and he was gone, <br />the humble one, and there he took <br />the poison and returned at dawn. <br /> <br />He brought the deadly gum; with it <br />he brought some leaves, a withered bough, <br />while rivulets of icy sweat <br />ran slowly down his livid brow. <br /> <br />He came, he fell upon a mat, <br />and reaping a poor slave's reward, <br />died near the painted hut where sat <br />his now unconquerable lord. <br /> <br />The king, he soaked his arrows true <br />in poison, and beyond the plains <br />dispatched those messengers and slew <br />his neighbors in their own domains.<br /><br />Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-upas-tree/
