Page:Poems, Volume 2, Coates, 1916.djvu/70



HEN Nature takes away the things we prize,

With all a mother's patient tenderness

She soothes us, and from treasure limitless

Brings forth new joys to gladden our grieved eyes.

Before the leaves fall fluttering to the ground

Affrighted at the very breath and sound

Of the wind's passion, she from blight and storm

Garners the seeds of Summer, safe and warm.

She knows, though glad and sweet the wild bird sing,

How soon the trillium of the wood shall fade,—

Nor longer with its stars illume the shade,—

She knows, and harvests for a future Spring;

And though about her winds of Autumn sigh,

And though the rose—the rose, itself, must die,

And though the lordly pine that scorns to bend

Must fall at last,—she knows there is no end.

Sure of her birthright—elemental, vast,—

Calmly she waits; but man, to whom is given