FERNS 



; In a valley centuries ago 

 Grew a little fern leaf green and slender, 

 Veining delicate and fibers tender, 

 Waving when the wind crept down so low; 

 Rushes tall and moss and grass grew round it, 

 Playful sunbeams darted in and found it, 

 Drops of dew stole down by night and crowned it. 

 But no foot of man e'er came that way 

 Earth was young and keeping holiday. 



Monster fishes swam the silent main, 

 Stately forests waved their giant branches, 

 Mountains hurled their snowy avalanches, 

 Mammoth creatures stalked across the plain; 

 Nature reveled in grand mysteries; 

 But the little fern was not of these, 

 Did not number with the hills and trees, 

 Only grew, and waved its wild sweet way; 

 No one came to note it day by day. 



Earth one time put on a frolic mood, 

 Heaved the rocks, and changed the mighty motion 

 Of the deep strong currents of the ocean; 

 Moved the plain and shook the haughty wood, 

 Crushed the little fern in soft moist clay, 

 Covered it and hid it safe away. 

 Oh, the long, long centuries since that day! 

 Oh, the changes ! oh, life's bitter cost ! 

 Since the useless little fern was lost. 



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