I PLANTED here, today, a strong young tree.
    Rich soil it has, and sun, and space to grow;
And who, I wonder, in the years to be
    Will seek its boughs’ soft shade; for well I know
Long ere this slender plant grows full and round
He who now tends it shall be sleeping sound.

What manner of a man will sit to view
    This now familiar scene when those shades spread?
Will he be thankful that he never knew
    These days of strange, uncomprehended dread?
Or will he, gazing back, find cause to sigh
For olden peace, for happier days gone by?

I planted here, to-day, a strong young hope
    That, when this tree’s green banners be unfurled,
There shall come singing down this verdant slope
    Some wiser mortal of a wiser world.
And if he bless the man who set the tree,
And be content, so, mayhap, shall I be.