1 <br /> <br />WE are the Trees. <br /> Our dark and leafy glade <br />Bands the bright earth with softer mysteries. <br />Beneath us changed and tamed the seasons run: <br />In burning zones, we build against the sun <br /> Long centuries of shade. <br /> <br />2 <br /> <br />We are the Trees, <br /> Who grow for man’s desire, <br />Heat in our faithful hearts, and fruits that please. <br />Dwelling beneath our tents, he lightly gains <br />The few sufficiencies his life attains— <br /> Shelter, and food, and fire. <br /> <br />3 <br /> <br />We are the Trees <br /> That by great waters stand, <br />By rills that murmur to our murmuring bees. <br />And where, in tracts all desolate and waste, <br />The palm-foot stays, man follows on, to taste <br /> Springs in the desert sand. <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />We are the Trees <br /> Who travel where he goes <br />Over the vast, inhuman, wandering seas. <br />His tutors we, in that adventure brave— <br />He launched with us upon the untried wave, <br /> And now its mastery knows. <br /> <br />5 <br /> <br />We are the Trees <br /> Who bear him company <br />In life and death. His happy sylvan ease <br />He wins through us; through us, his cities spread <br />That like a forest guard his unfenced head <br /> ’Gainst storm and bitter sky. <br /> <br />6 <br /> <br />We are the Trees. <br /> On us the dying rest <br />Their strange, sad eyes, in farewell messages. <br />And we, his comrades still, since earth began, <br />Wave mournful boughs above the grave of man, <br /> And coffin his cold breast.<br /><br />Mary Colborne-Veel<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/song-of-the-trees/
