276 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



standing disconsolately in low, flat, or inundated meadows, 

 or else by the side of ditches, over which they have no 

 branches left to bend ; but with such the poet never 

 concerns himself. He thinks only of the weeping 

 willow when drooping in natural luxuriance above some 

 clear or sparkling stream ; the wavy tips just rippling the 

 surface of the gliding waters, which reflect their image for 

 a moment, and then pass on. Thus beautiful in its assigned 

 locality, cheerful, too, on account of its light and silvery 

 foliage and pendent branches, breathing rather of placid 

 cheerfulness than enduring grief, the willow has yet been 

 selected in all ages as an emblem of disappointed love. 



" In love, the sad forsaken wight 

 The willow garland weaveth." 



Every one who has read Shakespeare remembers that 

 portion of an old ballad, which is sung by Desdemona on 

 the eve of her death, with its plaintive termination of 

 " O willow, willow ": 



