TREES IN WINTER

Gaunt and spare,

The silly trees

Strip them bare

To winter's breeze;

Yet when July

Sweltered red,

Dressed unduly

Heel to head!

Who will whisper

Unto me,

Why is this

Perversity?

Bent his head

A stately beech:

Slowly said

In gentle speech:

“Why, O man! not

Find a moral

( Though you cannot

In the laurel,)

“In our vigour

And our pelf,

Type and figure

Of yourself?

“Sun-kissed amity

Conceals

What calamity

Reveals:

“Summer glozes

Stain and scar;

Winter shows us

As we are.

“Well if thou,

In trying hour,

Stand, or bow,

In naked power,

“Like the spare

But sinewy trees

Standing bare

To winter's breeze!”