SWAYING TREE TOPS 



while they were sleeping, an enemy 

 had come and walled them in. 



The trees wear this cold beauty 

 quietly, patiently, without a murmur. 

 Though so quiet, I know there is life 

 at their hearts, waiting its time to 

 issue from this icy prison. 



This is the lesson for all life in tree 

 or man. Though it be surprised in 

 the night, bound fast by the enemy, 

 let it retreat to the warm chambers of 

 the heart and wait. The sun is far 

 away just now, oblique its rays, but 

 it is swinging nearer day by day, and 

 under its warm influence without, 

 and the heart-life within, the tree 

 shall clothe itself with the greenery 

 of the perfect spring. So, too, man 

 shall grow glad again, though now 

 he waits fettered by cold sorrow. 



[74] 



