I who kept the greenhouse, <br />Lover of trees and flowers, <br />Oft in life saw this umbrageous elm, <br />Measuring its generous branches with my eye, <br />And listened to its rejoicing leaves <br />Lovingly patting each other <br />With sweet aeolian whispers. <br />And well they might: <br />For the roots had grown so wide and deep <br />That the soil of the hill could not withhold <br />Aught of its virtue, enriched by rain, <br />And warmed by the sun; <br />But yielded it all to the thrifty roots, <br />Through which it was drawn and whirled to the trunk, <br />And thence to the branches, and into the leaves, <br />Wherefrom the breeze took life and sang. <br />Now I, an under-tenant of the earth, can see <br />That the branches of a tree <br />Spread no wider than its roots. <br />And how shall the soul of a man <br />Be larger than the life he has lived?<br /><br />Edgar Lee Masters<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/samuel-gardner/
