 | Poems by William W. Story |  |
306
L'ENVOI.
The corn is reaped from off my field,
But half the ears are spoiled with rot
And all is starveling, and not
What happier acres yield.
But half the ears are spoiled with rot
And all is starveling, and not
What happier acres yield.
The fallow of the year gives stop.
Say! when the spring comes round again,
Is it worth while to sow my grain
And try another crop?
Say! when the spring comes round again,
Is it worth while to sow my grain
And try another crop?
I know not! come to me and say
Good friend! if this thin, arid soil,
Is worth the tilling and the toil
I seem to throw away?
Good friend! if this thin, arid soil,
Is worth the tilling and the toil
I seem to throw away?
307
Or is it better it should stand
With scarlet poppy, buttercup,
And dandelion peeping up,
A simple pasture land?
With scarlet poppy, buttercup,
And dandelion peeping up,
A simple pasture land?
A lazy pasture land of ease
Where sheep may crop and goats may graze,
And wavering foot-paths make their ways
To little cottages?
Where sheep may crop and goats may graze,
And wavering foot-paths make their ways
To little cottages?
A little Common, unimproved
That care and pains have never irked
Where we may say, “we have not worked,
But we have only loved?”
That care and pains have never irked
Where we may say, “we have not worked,
But we have only loved?”
Jan. '56.
| Poems by William W. Story | |