The Birch. (Betula alba.)

The Birch.
(Betula alba.)
I.

Hail to the Birch—that graceful, fragrant tree,
“The Lady of the Woods” by Coleridge named!
All its varieties by man are claim’d
For use as well as beauty: all agree
To turn its every part to useful ends. 5
Its bark has form’d canoes to sail the deep,
And thatch’d the peasants’ cots to help to keep
Them shelter’d from all storms for selves and friends;
Its timber makes us barrels; its tough twigs
Make brooms to sweep the streets,—use better far 10
Than in the hands of pedants who wage war
With Nature (stupider than yonder pigs
Trespassing i’ the garden) when on the breech
Of the poor children they revenge their incapacity to teach.
II.
Blame not the elegant tree if brutal men 15
Have seized upon its elastic boughs and made
Things of them which have made children afraid
Of them their vile schools,—too oft the den
Of grossest thraldom to the wakening mind,
Which needs most gently leading to those stores 20
Of knowledge inexhaustible, on which roars
The soul from earth to heaven, where all refines
And true and pure thoughts, feelings live for aye.
Use then all things aright, but none abuse,
And then the lovely Birch will not refuse 25
Her aid in helping on the coming day
When hate and war and misery shall cease,
And all earth’s peoples dwell in happiness and peace.


III.
Unequal to the Oak in turning power,
Oil from its bark preserves the student’s books 30
From worser bookworms; and nowhere looks
In vain to see the pretty sylvan tower
Adorn the landscape, e’en though poor the soil.
Fodder, and oft a substitute for tea,
Leaves from its slender sprays are found to be, 35
Refreshing to the humble sons of toil.
Its colour serves for dyeing, yellow, red;
It juice once help’d the English housewife’s wine;
Its timber, though coarse-grain’d, has uses fine
And has to every art been closely wed. 40
Then let us cherish this most elegant tree
To give our forests fine variety.

George Markham Tweddell
[Sonnets on Trees and Flowers, pp. 46-48]