Bird Haunts and Nature Memories — Chapter 19

"'Mid vegetable king and priestAnd stripling, I (the only beast)Was at the heart's work, killing; hewedThe stubborn roots across, bestrewedThe glebe with the dislustered leaves,And bade the saplings fall in sheaves;Bursting across the tangled mathA ruin that I called a path,A Golgotha that, later on,When rains had watered, and sun shone,And seeds enriched the place, should bearAnd be called garden."

"What have I done?I am a little flower,Out of many a oneThat twinkles forth after each passing shower.***"Many an age agone,Before man walked on earth, was.…Web-footed monsters cameAnd into the darkness wentIn ponderous tournament.****"What have I done? Man came,Evolutional upstart one!With the gift of giving a nameTo everything under the sun.What have I done? Man came(They say nothing sticks like dirt),Looked at me with eyes of blame,And called me 'squinancy-wort.'****"Yet there is hope. I have seenMany changes since I began.The web-footed beasts have been(Dear beasts!) and gone, being part of a wider plan.Perhaps in His infinite mercy God will remove this Man!"