- THE POPLAR-LEAVES
WHY do they, all of them, lean one way.
The poplar-leaves of your heart's sad tree?
Why do they shiver and tremble so
When the wild sea-winds have ceased to blow
And the wild sea-swallows have flown away
From the edge of the bitter and lonely sea?
If I call them to me from over the hill —
The other swallows — the swallows that fly
O'er the cool, fresh streams of a clearer sky —
Would those leaves lean the same way still?
Ah! they must all of them lean one way
Whatever wind the other follows,
However swiftly fly the swallows;
For the sea-born can only the sea obey.
But if from the sea itself should blow —
From the sea itself, from the lonely sea,
A strange new wind; then I should know, —
And — perhaps — those leaves would turn to me!
