Poems (Greenwell)/A Comparison
A COMPARISON.
There is no Winter in the soul of Man; Its clime is Tropical, a giant tree In stately Southern forests blowing free And broad, it stands where equal Summer sways All seasons, and as one swift joy decays, Another pushes forth a fan-like frond Or succulent leaf dark-shining far beyond Before it falls; and wing-like thoughts have sown Their seeds all round about its roots, and thrown A veil of living blooms from bough to bough,Leaf, flower, and tendril twining, so that now Most vain it were to track each home, or guess Whence springs this weight and wealth of loveliness; While e'en its cloven bark, a sheath and shroud Of splendour, blossoms o'er,—so fancies crowd Within the soul, so mounting swift and high Up to that tree's tall summit, suddenly Spring in one night efflorescent, bright hopes,That drop again to earth like flowery ropes Lot down from Heaven by angels' hands; yet there Stand forth, 'mid all that fulness, gaunt and bareLike matted cordage, withered coils that fruit, Or flower, or leaf, bear never, for the root From whence they drew earth's kindly juice is gone; And these are hopes that die, yet still cling on!