MRS. DOWN-STARS
A Widow and Her Three Daughters:
Seraphine,
Josephine,
Josette.
O winter wind, move gently in this wood;
Here lives a gaunt black birch, so old, so worn,
So haggard with the snows of sixty winters
That nothing remains of her save tattered dreams,
And, sheltered by her withered arms, the fruit
Of an ancient ardor long since gone to dust:
Three saplings, shimmering-clean and cherry-red,
That loop the forest floor with supple limbs.
Here lives a gaunt black birch, so old, so worn,
So haggard with the snows of sixty winters
That nothing remains of her save tattered dreams,
And, sheltered by her withered arms, the fruit
Of an ancient ardor long since gone to dust:
Three saplings, shimmering-clean and cherry-red,
That loop the forest floor with supple limbs.
O winter storm, though here are three young dancers
Eager to make a high wild song of winds,
To leap upon the dust of yesterday,
There is a broken dreamer in this wood
Eager to make a high wild song of winds,
To leap upon the dust of yesterday,
There is a broken dreamer in this wood
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