 | Jones Very : The Complete Poems |  |
The Dead Elm
It stands amidst the beauty of the Spring,Its graceful outline stretched against the sky;
Warm suns, and rains, which life to others bring,
Blossoms, and leaves to it alone deny.
A subtle gas has been its fatal foe,
Through all the ground the noxious fumes have spread;
Its roots have drunk the poisoned stream below,
The noble elm roots, trunk, and limbs, is dead!
So, without sign of aught the soul can harm,
Amidst a sinful world, it droops and dies;
Concealed, the evil gives it no alarm,
When, from gross vice, with wings of fear, it flies;
Its subtle foe is in the air it breathes,
Mixed with the very food on which it lives.
Poem No. 307; 30 May 1854
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