[Poems by Stoddard in] Poetry of the Pacific selections and original poems from the poets of the Pacific states |
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THE WOODPECKER. |
 | [Poems by Stoddard in] Poetry of the Pacific |  |
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THE WOODPECKER.
A busy woodpecker! what would you call
This monk of a fellow, tapping a tree,
With little cells like a catacomb-hall,
To bury his acorns in; what would you call
Such a curious monk as he?
This monk of a fellow, tapping a tree,
With little cells like a catacomb-hall,
To bury his acorns in; what would you call
Such a curious monk as he?
Tucking his acorns away in their tomb,
To feed upon by-and-by at his will—
Does he ever think of the hidden bloom
In the acorn's heart? though shut in a tomb
There's a germ of life nursed there still!
To feed upon by-and-by at his will—
Does he ever think of the hidden bloom
In the acorn's heart? though shut in a tomb
There's a germ of life nursed there still!
Time is a woodpecker, crowding the cells
Of the catacomb earth with holy dead;
But there is a bud of life that swells
In the oak-tree's might, and it shatters the cells
As the soul when the life has fled.
Of the catacomb earth with holy dead;
But there is a bud of life that swells
In the oak-tree's might, and it shatters the cells
As the soul when the life has fled.
| [Poems by Stoddard in] Poetry of the Pacific | |