Poems (Tynan)/Poplar

by Katharine Tynan

POPLAR

The blinding sky 's unkind,
 The day has dust and glare,
The poplar keeps the wind
 In her cage of light and air,
Makes of her leaves a snare
 To keep the wind confined;
All in the breathless glare
 The poplar holds the wind.

O cool and beautiful
 Her leaves of silver-gray
Hang in the wind so cool
 In the blind and breathless day,
Turn in the wind at play,
 Fresh as a little pool
That in the forest gray
 Holds silver fins and cool.

All other trees are still,
 The oak, the elm, and the beech,
But the poplar hath her fill
 Of soft and gracious speech.
The winds are out of reach
 Beyond the sea and the hill
For the oak, and elm, and beech,
 But the poplar hath her fill.