I SAW A LIVE-OAK GROWING 191 



why I have been two years molding Idlewild into 

 a home, and have not yet set out a tree. 



I SAW IN LOUISIANA A LIVE-OAK 

 GROWING* 



BY WALT WHITMAN 



I SAW in Louisiana a live-oak growing, 



All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the 



branches, 

 Without any companion it grew there uttering 



joyous leaves of dark green, 

 And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think 



of myself, 

 But I wonder'd how it could utter joyous leaves 



standing alone there without its friend near, 



for I knew I could not, 

 And I broke off a twig with a certain number of 



leaves upon it, and twined around it a little 



moss, 

 And brought it away, and I have placed it in sight 



in my room. 

 It is not needed to remind me of my own dear 



friends 

 (For I believe lately I think of little else than of 



them), 



* From "Poetical Works," published by David McKay, Phila- 

 delphia, Pa. 



