StoryTitle("caps", "The Willow Man") ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PagePoem(55, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There once was a Willow, and he was very old,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And all his leaves fell off from him, and left him in the cold ;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But ere the rude winter could buffet him with snow, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There grew upon his hoary head a crop of Mistletoe. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All wrinkled and furrowed was this old Willow's skin, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His taper fingers trembled, and his arms were very thin; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Two round eyes and hollow, that stared but did not see, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And sprawling feet that never walked, had this most ancient tree.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A Dame who dwelt a-near was the only one who knew ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That every year upon his head the Christmas berries grew;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when the Dame cut them, she said—it was her whim—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"A merry Christmas to you, Sir!\" and left a bit for him. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Oh, Granny dear, tell us,\" the children cried, \"where we", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "May find the shining Mistletoe that grows upon the tree?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At length the Dame told them, but cautioned them to mind", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To greet the willow civilly, and leave a bit behind. ", "") ?>
PagePoem(56, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Who cares,\" said the children, \"for this old Willow man ?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "We'll take the Mistletoe, and he may catch us if he can.\" ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With rage the ancient Willow shakes in every limb, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For they have taken all, and have not left a bit for him. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then bright gleamed the holly, the Christmas berries shone,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But in the wintry wind without the Willow man did moan", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Ungrateful, and wasteful! the mystic Mistletoe", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A hundred years hath grown on me, but never more shall grow.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A year soon passed by, and the children came once more, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But not a sprig of Mistletoe the aged Willow bore. ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Each slender spray pointed; he mocked them in his glee,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And chuckled in his wooden heart, that ancient Willow tree.", "") ?>
PoemEnd() ?>
SubTitle("caps", "Moral") ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "O children, who gather the spoils of wood and wold, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "From selfish greed and willful waste your little hands withhold.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Though fair things be common, this moral bear in mind, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"Pick thankfully and modestly, and leave a bit behind.\"", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("85", SmallCapsText("—Juliana Horatia Ewing.")) ?>
PoemEnd() ?>