Page:Dora Sigerson Shorter - New Poems.djvu/20

 Linking her chain sweet Geraldine said, "Big John or James I will surely wed; I soon must choose which shall best please me, I care not at all for little Benjie." The oak grows brown and the oak grows green, The owl and thrush on her branch have been; For fifty winters a snood of snow She wears all white till the spring winds blow.

For fifty autumns a robe of red She wears till the wet west wind has fled, But ne'er from dawn till the dusk of day Hath she heard the sound of a child at play.

Big John grows old and all full of care, He works till night in his oaken chair; His feet have led him not long nor late, No more than a league from his father's gate.

Where yew trees wave and their dark leaves shed Young James lies cold in his four-foot bed, O soft did his father lay him down, And over him drew the earth so brown.