The sky-lark - National Library of Scotland

THE SKY-LARK. 267
Escaped from treacherous waves and winds,
That three years he had felt at sea,
A wonderous miracle he finds,
The sapling is become a tree
A goodly head, that graceful rears,
Enlarg'd the trunk, enlarg'd the core,
And on the rind enlarged appears,
' Love me, ah! love me evermore/
While gazing on the spell-like charms
Of this most wonderful of trees,
His Nancy rushes to his arms,
His children cling about his knees.
Increased in love, increased in size,
Taught from the mother's tender store,
Each little urchin lisping cries,
' Love me, ah ! love me evermore/
Amazement seiz'd the admiring crowd;
' My children/ cried a village seer,
* These signs, though mute, declare aloud
The hand of Providence is here,
Whose hidden, yet whose sure decrees,
For those its succour who implore,
€an still the tempest, level seas,
And crown true-love for evermore.
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