Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.
By Philip HenrySavage1601 Silkweed
L
Or feathers from the white moth’s wing,
Out of the gates of bramble-town
The silkweed goes a-gypsying.
All winter in the sheath it lay;
But now, when spring is pushing out,
The zephyr calls, “Away! away!”
Up from their cradle-spring they fly,
Beyond the boundary wall to turn
And voyage through the friendly sky.
They float and drift, delay and turn;
And one avoids and one is caught
Between an oak-leaf and a fern.
The spider drew from tree to tree;
And if the web is light and fine,
’T is not so light and fine as he!
As if to find a door; and then,
As if he did not care at all,
Goes over, and adown the glen.
Adventuring, as if, indeed,
’T were not so grave a thing to bear
The burden of a seed!