Rain and Roses

<h2><SPAN name="A_WISH" id="A_WISH"></SPAN>A Wish</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="ig"><span class="letra">T</span>HEY called me girl, gave me the name<br/></span> <span class="ih">Of one I’ll never see.<br/></span> <span class="i0">I wish they’d given me instead<br/></span> <span class="i2">The name of some nice tree.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A tree that rocks with every wind,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Fast rooted in the ground,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Straining its eager branches up<br/></span> <span class="i2">To where God’s looking down.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A neighbor to the grass and flowers.<br/></span> <span class="i2">A friend to all the skies,<br/></span> <span class="i0">A lovely tree that dares to romp<br/></span> <span class="i2">With every bird that flies.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">A spruce, an elm, a tamarack;<br/></span> <span class="i2">Dear heaven, how can there be<br/></span> <span class="i0">A lovelier name, and how I wish<br/></span> <span class="i2">They’d given one to me.<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</SPAN></span></div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />