Poems (Edwards)/The Thorn-tree

by Matilda Caroline Smiley Edwards

THE THORN TREE.

It was the hour when fancy's hand
 Her richest garland weaves,
The rain was over, and the winds
 Lay cradled in the leaves;
The wild birds warbled forth their lays,
 From every drooping spray,
And on the sky the massive clouds,
 Like snow-wreaths shining, lay;
The blossoms dripping with the rain,
 Hung down their petals fair,
And breathed their sweetest fragrance out
 Upon the summer air.

I sat within a vine-clad porch,
 A friend was at my side,
Who, with a smile of calm content,
 The scene before him eyed;
Said he, as earnestly he looked
 Upon the spreading lawn,
And glanced, with very sage contempt,
 At an unsightly thorn;
"That tree is quite unwelcome here,
 With its great thistles brown
And clumsy shape, it does no good,
 I'll hew the cumberer down."

I looked upon the hated tree,
 And sorrow filled my heart,
Alas! thought I, poor helpless tree,
 Like many a one thou art,
Who passes down life's stream alone,
 With shadowed heart and brow,
Who is by all men cast aside,
 As good for nought as thou,
Whose only portion while he lives,
 Is hate, contempt and scorn,
And who, in death, lies spurned like thee,
 Thou outcast lonely thorn.

Just then a slanting sunbeam fell
 Upon the joyless tree,
And O! the sight that met my gaze,
 Shall ne'er forgotten be;
Within the bosom of that thorn,
 Upon a spreading stem,
The rain-drops bright had gathered up
 And formed a diadem;
"Aye," said I to the jewelled tree,
 "Like many a one thou art,
Who lives unloved, yet holds unseen
 A treasure in his heart."

The roughest bud a blossom bears
 Within its scaly folds,
The coarsest rock within its breast,
 The brightest diamond holds;
Jewels are born beneath the sea,
 And pearls beneath the tide,
And stormy nights and clouded skies,
 The brightest stars will hide;
Then judge not, from the outward form,
 Whate'er, whoe'er thou art,
Man looks upon exterior acts,
 "God looks upon the heart."