SWAYING TREE TOPS 



thoughts for growth in the present 

 and future. 



It is a quiet afternoon, and, look- 

 ing across the sun-bathed valley, it 

 hardly seems credible that a long 

 time must elapse before the trees and 

 shrubs shall be clothed with verdure, 

 and the grass grow green above the 

 brown earth. I am ready now for 

 spring. Why wait six long months? 



As though to make my desire less 

 intense, a vine, clinging to a leafless 

 tree, still keeps its green against the 

 blighting frost. Thus everywhere 

 we turn we find compensations. 

 These green leaves will cling here to 

 temper the winter for me, to make 

 less keen the sorrow for a departed 

 summer, and less intense the longing 

 for a coming spring. 



[155] 



