90 



NATURE STUDY MADE EASY 



Talking in their Sleep 



"You think I am dead/ 7 



The apple tree said, 

 " Because I have never a leaf to show - 



Because I stoop, 



And my branches droop, 

 And the dull gray mosses over me grow \ 

 But I'm all alive in trunk and shoot; 



The buds of next May 



I fold away 

 But I pity the withered grass at my root. 



" You think I am dead/' 



The quick grass said, 

 " Because I have parted with stem and blade 



But under the ground 



I am safe and sound 



With the snow's thick blanket over me laid. 

 I'm all alive, and ready to shoot, 



Should the spring of the year 



Come dancing here 

 But I pity the flower without branches or root." 



"You think I am dead," 



A soft voice said, 

 " Because not a branch or root I own ! 



I never have died, 



But close I hide 



In a plumy seed that the wind has sown. 

 Patient I wait through the long winter hours, 



You will see me again 



I shall laugh at you, then, 

 Out of the eyes of a hundred flowers." 



EDITH M. THOMAS. 



