Foliage: Various Poems

<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </SPAN></p> <br/> <h2> THE OLD OAK TREE </h2> <p>I sit beneath your leaves, old oak,<br/> You mighty one of all the trees;<br/> Within whose hollow trunk a man<br/> Could stable his big horse with ease.<br/> <br/> I see your knuckles hard and strong,<br/> But have no fear they'll come to blows;<br/> Your life is long, and mine is short,<br/> But which has known the greater woes?<br/> <br/> Thou has not seen starved women here,<br/> Or man gone mad because ill-fed&mdash;<br/> Who stares at stones in city streets,<br/> Mistaking them for hunks of bread.<br/> <br/> Thou hast not felt the shivering backs<br/> Of homeless children lying down<br/> And sleeping in the cold, night air&mdash;<br/> Like doors and walls in London town.<br/> <br/> Knowing thou hast not known such shame,<br/> And only storms have come thy way,<br/> Methinks I could in comfort spend<br/> My summer with thee, day by day.<br/> <br/> To lie by day in thy green shade,<br/> And in thy hollow rest at night;<br/> And through the open doorway see<br/> The stars turn over leaves of light.<br/></p> <p><br/><br/></p> <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />