Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PLANTING, by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK Poet's Biography First Line: Plant it safe and sure, my child Last Line: "it will grow while thou art sleeping." Alternate Author Name(s): Mulock, Dinah Maria Subject(s): Plants; Planting; Planters | ||||||||
"I said to my little son, who was watching tearfully at a tree he had planted, -- 'Let it alone; it will grow while you are sleeping,'" PLANT it safe and sure, my child, Then cease watching and cease weeping; You have done your utmost part: Leave it with a quiet heart: It will grow while you are sleeping. "But, O father," says the child, With a troubled face up-creeping, "How can I but think and grieve When the fierce wind comes at eve Tearing it -- and I lie sleeping! "I have loved my young tree so! In each bud seen leaf and floweret, Watered it each day with prayers, Guarded it with many cares, Lest some canker should devour it. "O good father," sobs the child, "If I come in summer's shining And my pretty tree be dead, How the sun will scorch my head, How I shall sit lorn, repining! "Rather let me, evermore, An incessant watch thus keeping, Bear the cold, the storm, the frost, That my treasure be not lost -- Ay, bear aught -- but idle sleeping." Sternly said the father then, "Who art thou, child, vainly grieving? Canst thou send the balmy dews, Or the rich sap interfuse Through the dead trunk, inly living? "Canst thou bid the heavens restrain Natural tempests for thy praying? Canst thou bend one tender shoot, Urge the growth of one frail root, Keep one leaflet from decaying? "If it live to bloom all fair, Will it praise thee for its blossom? If it die, will any plaints Reach thee, as with kings and saints Drops it to the cold earth's bosom? "Plant it -- all thou canst! -- with prayers; It is safe 'neath His sky's folding Who the whole earth compasses, Whether we watch more or less, His wide eye all things beholding. "Should He need a goodly tree For the shelter of the nations, He will make it grow: if not, Never yet His love forgot Human love, and faith, and patience. "Leave thy treasure in His hand -- Cease all watching and all weeping: Years hence, men its shade may crave, And its mighty branches wave Beautiful above they sleeping." If his hope, tear-sown, that child Garnered after joyful reaping, Know I not: yet unawares Gleams this truth through many cares, "It will grow while thou art sleeping." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...KILLING THE PLANTS by JANE KENYON NOW I AM A PLANT, A WEED by KATHERINE MANSFIELD TANKA DIARY (5) by HARRYETTE MULLEN BY THE ALMA RIVER by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK DOUGLAS, DOUGLAS, TENDER AND TRUE by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK |
|