OH Mother Linden, hold me fast,
I tremble in the vernal blast,
Lest, with its ice-drops cold and keen,
It rend my new-made robe of green;
Rudely it threatens to divide
The link that binds me to thy side.
“Fear not, my child, the Hand that made
The breeze and sunshine, light and shade,
Has bid thee on my branch to grow,
And taught me not to let thee go.”
A summer storm obscures the skies,
The thunder growls, the lightning flies,
Nature lets loose in sudden ire,
Her streams of water and of fire;
And, wildly flutt’ring in the strife.
Mother, I cling to thee for life.
“Be comforted, this whirling blast
But cleanses as it hurries past;
The Voice that bids the tempest blow
Will tell me when to let thee go.”
Now Autumn, with her rustling train,
Has swept the fields of golden grain,
And tinted me with amber hues,
And spangled me with diamond dews;
My stem is weak, my veins are dry,
My crimson brethren round me fly.
In bright attire they hover round,
Or dance in circles on the ground;
Caressing breezes whisper low,
“Mother, sweet mother, let me go!”
We know not where the leaflet lies,
But we believe that genial skies
Are bending o’er her mossy bed,
With kindred relies overspread.
We brush them in our morning ride,
And o’er them muse at eventide.
We marvel why so gaily drest
The children left their mother’s breast,
But not in sorrow, for we know
The wither’d leaf was glad to go!
(Emily Mary Barton)
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Based on Topics: Life Poems, Light Poems, Sadness Poems, Nature Poems, Fire Poems, Past Poems, Mothers Poems, Summer Poems, Water Poems, Children Poems, Lies & Deceit PoemsBased on Keywords: leaflet, relies, obscures, growls, overspread, cleanses, ice-drops