The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1921-05-06
THE WOODS
by DOUGLAS MAIIOCH
THE LETTER..

r CAN'T tell you. girl. how love you
II is something the woods never
teach:
/ can lie all the night and think OF you.
but l can't put the matter in speech
But it's love like the blue skies above you
that around the whole universe reach.
II is love that is wide the arches OF
stars from the east TO the west;
II is love that is long as the marches of
sunrise 10 sunset and rest;
II is love that is strong as the larches
that mount TO earth's uttermost
crest.
In the woods we are rougher than others
you know in the parlors of town;
To the wolf and the wild we are brothers.
we are kin 10 the creatures OF brown;
II is long since we crept 10 our mothers
and slept on our pillows OF down.
For we sleep in the huts OF the humble
and we live on a sturdier fare;
And the music we hear is the rumble of
thunders OF earth and OF air
Where the pine and the tamarack tumble
and the pathway of progress pre-
pare.
Yet this land is the land of the lover.
the place for love such as mine:
Oh, sweet is the scent of the clover. but
strong is the heart of the pine;
Loves cup in the town bubbles over.
but here 1t is purple as wine.
We live and we love and we labor W
here on a mightier scale;
To the north and the night we are neigh
Dor, we are kin of the star and the
gale;
The lightning II threats with its sabre,
the northwind IL stings with its hail
And the heart of the man is made strong
er with the strength OF the thing
that he fights.
And the love of his heart is made longer
by the length OF the lonelest nights
For the lover whose heart is a-hunger
longs most for a lovers delights.
The fellow away from the city the tricks
of the city forgets:
He can't say the thing that is witty, he
can't breathe his soul in regrets:
lie can't say the thing that is pretty &c
please the pink ear of coquettes.
For the bigness OF life is about him. the
bigness of heaven and star;
Though the city runs onward withou;
him, forgetting the forest afar,
When he speaks let no cleverness doubt
him. for he speaks of the things as
they are
And this is the love that bring you. the
love OF the man out-ofdoors:
And this is the song that / sing you. the
song that the nightingale pours.
The song that the nightingales fling you
from evenudes musical shores
The shepherd boy carols his meter. and
follows the feet of the herds:
The song OF the skylark is fieeter because
OF the absence of words
Is the language OF mortals the sweeter
more sweet than the music OF birds
My lips they may tremble 10 say II
however my pulses may beat;
The tale that tell you may weigh II anc
find II tale incomplete
But here is my heart and / lay II. al
voiceless and mute. at your feet.
! can't tell YOU. girl the old story. en-
bellished with city-bred lies
The tale that a planet grown hoary still
hears with the olden surprise
But the night Is all starshine and glory
because l have looked in your eyes
The night is all starshine and splendo
up here in the tamarack lands;
The night is all moonlit and tender be
cause OF the touch OF your hands
And your eyes they may widen Will
wonder. hut l know that your hear
understands
(Copyright)