BETA

Now is the autumn of the Tree of Life :1
Its leaves are shed upon the unthankful
earth,
2
Which lets them whirl, a prey to the winds’
strife,
3
Heartless to store them for the month of
dearth
4
Men close the door, and dress the cheerful
hearth,
5
Self-trusting still ; and in his comely gear6
Of precept and of right a household Baal
rear.
7
But I will out amid the sleet, and view8
Each shrivelling stalk and silent-falling
leaf.
9
Truth after truth, of choicest scent and
hue,
10
Fades and, in fading, stirs the angels’
grief,
11
Unanswered here ; for she, once pattern
chief
12
Of faith, my Country, now gross-hearted
grown,
13
Waits but to burn the stem before her idol’s
throne.”
14