THE LITTLE TREE
I saw a strange and piteous thing, The murder of a tree in spring— A littlo tree, all green and bright, Its new leaves dancing in the light, As if amid their April mirth The young year's joy had sprung to birth, And set each dancing leaf to sing A gay green song to gay green spring. Its brown stem was a column strong Set in brown earth, that bore its song To where tho swifts went whirling by And wove a oattern in the sky. Throughout the blue and golden days The young tree sang its song of praise: Then sunset came, and the bright blado Of axe about its stem was laid. The white chips flew, and with a sigh The little tree lay down to die, Its springtide promise unfulfilled. Its springtide song untimely stilled, Its April beauty crushed and killed. And yet not killed, but set apart To live forever in my heart. —Rachel Swete Macnamara
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19330805.2.174.47.8
Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21562, 5 August 1933, Page 4 (Supplement)
Word Count
163THE LITTLE TREE New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21562, 5 August 1933, Page 4 (Supplement)
Using This Item
NZME is the copyright owner for the New Zealand Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence . This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of NZME. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Auckland Libraries and NZME.
Log in