Foliage: Various Poems

<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0038" id="link2H_4_0038"> </SPAN></p> <br/> <h2> CHILDREN AT PLAY </h2> <p>I hear a merry noise indeed:<br/> Is it the geese and ducks that take<br/> Their first plunge in a quiet pond<br/> That into scores of ripples break&mdash;<br/> Or children make this merry sound?<br/> <br/> I see an oak tree, its strong back<br/> Could not be bent an inch though all<br/> Its leaves were stone, or iron even:<br/> A boy, with many a lusty call,<br/> Rides on a bough bareback through Heaven.<br/> <br/> I see two children dig a hole<br/> And plant in it a cherry-stone:<br/> "We'll come to-morrow," one child said&mdash;<br/> "And then the tree will be full grown,<br/> And all its boughs have cherries red."<br/> <br/> Ah, children, what a life to lead:<br/> You love the flowers, but when they're past<br/> No flowers are missed by your bright eyes;<br/> And when cold winter comes at last,<br/> Snowflakes shall be your butterflies.<br/></p> <p><br/><br/></p> <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />