Part 24 (1/2)
”You think I am dead,”
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 still alive in trunk and shoot; The buds of next May I fold away-- But I pity the withered gra.s.s at my root.”
”You think I am dead,”
The quick gra.s.s 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 branch 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._
LITTLE DANDELION
Little bud Dandelion Hears from her nest, ”Merry heart, starry eye, Wake from your rest!”
Wide ope the emerald lids; Robin's above; Wise little Dandelion Smiles at his love.
Cold lie the daisy-banks, Clad but in green, Where in the Mays agone Bright hues were seen.
Wild pinks are slumbering, Violets delay-- True little Dandelion Greeteth the May.
Meek little Dandelion Groweth more fair, Till dries the amber dew Out from her hair.
High rides the thirsty sun, Fiercely and high,-- Faint little Dandelion Closeth her eye.
Dead little Dandelion, In her white shroud, Heareth the angel-breeze Call from the cloud.
Tiny plumes fluttering Make no delay, Little winged Dandelion Soareth away.
_Helen L. Bostwick._
INDEX OF t.i.tLES
Afternoon in February _Henry W. Longfellow_ Ant and the Cricket, The _Anonymous_ April Day, An _Henry W. Longfellow_ April Welcome, An _Phoebe Cary_ Autumn _Alice Cary_ Autumn Fires _Robert Louis Stevenson_
Ballad of the Tempest, The _James T. Fields_ Birds in Summer _Mary Howitt_ Bluebird, The _Emily Huntington Miller_ Blue Jay, The _Susan Hartley Swett_ ”Bob White” _George Cooper_ Brook-Song, The _James Whitcomb Riley_ Brown Thrush, The _Lucy Larcom_ Busy Day, A _Anonymous_
Calling the Violet _Lucy Larcom_ Camel's Hump, The _Rudyard Kipling_ Captain's Daughter, The (See ”Ballad of the Tempest”) Chestnut Burr, The _Anonymous_ Child's Prayer, A _Matilda B. Edwards_ Child's Thought of G.o.d, A _Elizabeth Barrett Browning_ Choosing a Name _Mary Lamb_ Christmas _Nahum Tate_ Christmas Carol, A _J.G. Holland_
Daisies, The _Bliss Carman_ Dandelion _Kate L. Brown_ Dandelions, The _Helen Gray Cone_ Day, A _Emily d.i.c.kinson_ Daybreak _Henry W. Longfellow_ Don't Kill the Birds _J. Colesworthy_ Dove, The _John Keats_ ”Down to Sleep” _Helen Hunt Jackson_