Poems (Linn)/To the Straw in a Horse-Car
TO THE STRAW IN A HORSE-CAR.
ONCE you waved in fields of beauty Underneath the blue;Now you come to do the duty Men have given you.
Oh, how sweet the breath of spring was, As it kissed each blade,And the white clouds drove across you Drifts of sun and shade!
And beneath the smile of summer, How you rustled then,As the mower came to reap you For the use of men!
And to-night, when cold and tired Of the throngs I meet,I espied your nodding plumage Lying at my feet;
How I thanked you for the pictures That you brought to me,Of your billowy, blooming beauty, Lovelier than the sea.
Though man trample on your sweetness I remember still;Let them thoughtlessly deface you, Soil you if they will;
Memory shows me all the beauty That you used to wear;And I never can forget it Though downtrodden there.