The Horse Chestnut. (Æsculus Hippocastrum.)

The Horse Chestnut.
(Æsculus Hippocastrum.)
I.
Of ornamental trees, there are but few

That with the Horse Chestnut e’er compare:
Cover’d with pyramids of flowers most fair,
And large green leaves, methinks there never grew
A prettier tree in all our sylvan land. 5
If Shakspere’s eyes had seen this noble tree
It would have bloom’d in his true poësy
As it can ne’er in mine: and yet I stand
Gazing with rapture on each spreading bough.
They who from Asia first did introduce 10
The graceful stranger, doubtless knew its use;
For the Turks grind the nuts that on it grow
To help to feed his horses; poultry, sheep,
All find them food; and dyers from its bark
Obtain a yellow. Then plant it in thy park. 15
[15 line sonnet]


II.
Plant it, but in good soil. It will repay
The fully, in the beauty it will give
To all the landscape; for we ought to live
To adorn the land which Nature would make
With varied colours if she had her way. 5
With lichens she soon tints the barest stones;
With mosses and aquatic flowers adorns
The unsightly bogs; and whether sand or clay,
Enriches poorest land, so that it may
In time become good soil. Like Adam we 10
Are set to dress our Eden: let us be
Good gardeners, so that at our last day,
When we give up our stewardship, we all
May cheerfully obey the Master’s call.

George Markham Tweddell
[Sonnets on Trees and Flowers, pp. 49-50]