LAST of the leaves! why lingerest thou
So late upon the naked bough?
Those who were young with thee are gone,
And thou art wither’d and alone!
Thou, who ‘mid songs and sweets wert born
In the year’s green and smiling morn
Bursting to life in happy hour
‘Mid the glad tears of April show’r
Nor lonely was thy birth, I ween;
Since, peeping forth in tend’rest green,
A thousand sister buds were seen,
When thou, upon thy mother-spray,
First felt the soft caress of May!
Benignantly the changeful sky
Look’d on thy tender infancy,
While many a leaflet by thy side,
Frost-nipt or mildew’d, early died;
But thou, the while, wert spar’d to know
The summer’s bright and kindly glow,
To mingle in the general mirth,
When warmth and beauty bless’d the earth!
When thou wert faint, in sultry hour,
To cool thee fell the transient show’r;
And still, to renovate thy frame,
The sparkling dews of evening came.
Beneath thy screen the linnet sate,
And told his love-tale to his mate;
Folding his wings, the honey bee
Would waste a precious hour with thee;
That loveliest idler of the sky,
The mealy-coated butterfly,
Would spread his Argus robe, and rest
In sunshine on thy verdant breast;
But thou hast liv’d the leaves to see,
Which budded and which bloom’d with thee,
Drooping and chang’d, as o’er them past,
With warning voice, October’s blast:
Then, Winter blew with sterner breath,
And whirling crowds were swept to death!
Some faded tremblers clung, like thee,
Tenacious, to the parent tree,
But, one by one they dropt, and thou
Art lonely on the naked bough!
And wou’dst thou linger, till again
The year leads spring-time in her train;
Till leaves, which were not born with thee,
Shall clothe again the naked tree;
Young leaflets, that shall laugh to scorn
Thy aspect, wither’d and forlorn?
No! the next blast which sweeps the sky
Shall lay thee where thy comrades lie;
And thou, who leavest nought behind,
Shalt yield, and call the summons kind!
(Margaret Holford)
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Based on Topics: Death & Dying Poems, Nature Poems, Youth Poems, Happiness Poems, Past Poems, Summer Poems, Winter Poems, Birth Poems, Parents Poems, Butterflies PoemsBased on Keywords: renovate, love-tale, lingerest, benignantly, tremblers, frost-nipt