USEFULNESS
A gnarled and twisted little shrub, Near oaks which were strong and high, In anguish prated to be straight and tall, And cried, “Oh, that I might die! ” Then woodmen made of those trees a bridge On which men pass to and fro With ne’er a thought of the riven oaks Nor the piers which lie below. But the shrub became an old man’s cane, — And he loves it like a child; And with laugh and shout the children ride This steed, which is swift and wild. O life that has missed the boon of health And of toil, thou still can bless; The earth cries loud for faith and love And a touch of tenderness. Pleasures lie thickest where no pleasures There’s’ not a leaf that falls upon the ground But holds some joy, of silence or of sound, Some sprite forgotten of a summer dream. —Laman Blanchard
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19400810.2.98.5.6
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Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21188, 10 August 1940, Page 11 (Supplement)
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150USEFULNESS Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21188, 10 August 1940, Page 11 (Supplement)
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