NATURE AND THE POETS. 109 



In " The Song of the Sower " our poet covers up 

 part of the truth with the grain. The point and 

 moral of the song he puts in the statement, that the 

 wheat sown in the fall lies in the ground till spring 

 before it germinates ; when, in fact, it sprouts and 

 grows and covers the ground with " emerald blades " 

 in the fall : 



" Fling wide the generous grain ; we fling 

 O'er the dark mould the green of spring. 

 For thick the emerald blades shall grow, 

 When first the March winds melt the snow, 

 And to the sleeping flowers, below, 

 The early bluebirds sing. 



Brethren, the sower's task is done. 



The seed is in its winter bed. 



Now let the dark-brown mould be spread, 



To hide it from the sun, 

 And leave it to the kindly care 

 Of the still earth and brooding air, 

 As when the mother, from her breast, 

 Lays the hushed babe apart to rest, 

 And shades its eyes and waits to see 

 How sweet its waking smile will be. 

 The tempest now may smite, the sleet 

 All night on the drowned furrow beat, 

 And winds that, from the cloudy hold 

 Of winter, breathe the bitter cold, 

 Stiffen to stone the mellow mould, 



Yet safe shall lie the wheat ; 

 Till, out of heaven's unmeasured blue, 



Shall walk agair the genial year, 

 To wake with warmth and nurse with dew 



The germs we lar to slumber here." 



Of course the poet was not writing an agricultural 



