The Sweet Uses of Adversity
In Norway fiords, in summer-time,
The Norway birch is fair:
The white trunks shine, the green leaves twine,
The whole tree groweth tall and fine;
For all it wants is there,—
Water and warmth and air,—
Full fed in all its nature needs, and showing
That nature in perfection by its growing.
But follow the persistent tree
To the limit of endless snow
There you may see what a birch can be!
The product showeth plain and free
How nobly plants can grow
With nine months’ winter slow.
’Tis fitted to survive in that position,
Developed by the force of bad condition.
See now what life the tree doth keep,—
Branchless, three-leaved, and tough;
In June the leaf-buds peep, flowers in July dare creep
To bloom, the fruit in August, and then sleep.
Strong is the tree and rough,
It lives, and that’s enough.
“Dog’s-ear” the name the peasants call it by—
A Norway birch—and less than one inch high!
That silver monarch of the summer wood,
Tall, straight, and lovely, rich in all things good,
Knew not in his perversity
The sweeter uses of adversity!