Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | V. Trees: Flowers: Plants | | The Wind and the Pine-Tree | | Sir Henry Taylor (1800–1886) |
| | From “Edwin the Fair”
THE TALE was this: | |
| The wind, when first he rose and went abroad | |
| Through the waste region, felt himself at fault, | |
| Wanting a voice; and suddenly to earth | |
| Descended with a wafture and a swoop, | 5 |
| Where, wandering volatile from kind to kind, | |
| He wooed the several trees to give him one. | |
| First he besought the ash; the voice she lent | |
| Fitfully with a free and lasting change | |
| Flung here and there its sad uncertainties: | 10 |
| The aspen next; a fluttered frivolous twitter | |
| Was her sole tribute: from the willow came, | |
| So long as dainty summer dressed her out, | |
| A whispering sweetness, but her winter note | |
| Was hissing, dry, and reedy: lastly the pine | 15 |
| Did he solicit, and from her he drew | |
| A voice so constant, soft, and lowly deep, | |
| That there he rested, welcoming in her | |
| A mild memorial of the ocean-cave | |
| Where he was born. | 20 | | | |
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