Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A POET'S APPEAL FOR THE NATURAL: 2. THE TREES, by WILLIAM STEWARD GORDON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A POET'S APPEAL FOR THE NATURAL: 2. THE TREES, by                    
First Line: And I love the shaggy bark on trees
Last Line: "disfigures what you would refine!"
Subject(s): Nature; Poetry & Poets; Trees


And I love the shaggy bark on trees.
What if 'tis coarse, and tawny-hued,
And torn by Winter's tomahawk!
A planing knife would make it seem
A stilted, artificial thing.

And let the fir grow skyward.
'Tis compasslike, and meant to point
Its needle to the zenith pole,
And not to squat squaw-like, with all
The primal instincts chained or killed.
To change a towering monarch to
A shingle-headed dwarf is monstrous.

Nor daub with paint the graining of
Its wood. Would Guido vie with God
In sketching witch-like tracery
Upon the bird's-eye maple or
The Douglas fir?

And yet methinks I hear one say:
"Old Nature's face is plain—his beard
Is not the latest cut." I stoop
Not for apology, but cry:
"To sheer Time's locks, or shave his face
Disfigures what you would refine!"





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