<h2><SPAN name="THE_TWO_ACORNS" id="THE_TWO_ACORNS"></SPAN>THE TWO ACORNS.</h2>
<p class="ac">DR. CHARLES MACKAY.</p>
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<div class="verse">In ancient time, two acorns, in their cups,</div>
<div class="verse">Shaken by winds and ripeness from the tree,</div>
<div class="verse">Dropped side by side into the ferns and grass;</div>
<div class="verse">"Where have I fallen—to what base region come?"</div>
<div class="verse">Exclaimed the one. "The joyous breeze no more</div>
<div class="verse">Rocks me to slumber on the sheltering bough;</div>
<div class="verse">The sunlight streams no longer on my face;</div>
<div class="verse">I look no more from altitudes serene</div>
<div class="verse">Upon the world reposing far below—</div>
<div class="verse">Its plains, its hills, its rivers, and its woods.</div>
<div class="verse">To me the nightingale sings hymns no more;</div>
<div class="verse">But I am made companion of the worm,</div>
<div class="verse">And rot on the chill earth. Around me grow</div>
<div class="verse">Nothing but useless weeds, and grass, and fern,</div>
<div class="verse">Unfit to hold companionship with me.</div>
<div class="verse">Ah, me! most wretched! rain and frost and dew</div>
<div class="verse">And all the pangs and penalties of earth</div>
<div class="verse">Corrupt me where I lie—degenerate."</div>
<div class="verse">And thus the acorn made its daily moan.</div>
<div class="verse">The other raised no murmur of complaint</div>
<div class="verse">And looked with no contempt upon the grass</div>
<div class="verse">Nor called the branching fern a worthless weed</div>
<div class="verse">Nor scorned the woodland flowers that round it blew.</div>
<div class="verse">All silently and piously it lay</div>
<div class="verse">Upon the kindly bosom of the earth.</div>
<div class="verse">It blessed the warmth with which the noonday sun</div>
<div class="verse">Made fruitful all the ground; it loved the dews,</div>
<div class="verse">The moonlight and the snow, the frost and rain</div>
<div class="verse">And all the change of seasons as they passed.</div>
<div class="verse">It sank into the bosom of the soil.</div>
<div class="verse">The bursting life, enclosed within its husk,</div>
<div class="verse">Broke through its fetters; it extended roots</div>
<div class="verse">And twined them freely in the grateful ground;</div>
<div class="verse">It sprouted up and looked upon the light;</div>
<div class="verse">The sunshine fed it; the embracing air</div>
<div class="verse">Endowed it with vitality and strength;</div>
<div class="verse">The rains of heaven supplied it nourishment.</div>
<div class="verse">And so from month to month, and year to year,</div>
<div class="verse">It grew in beauty and in usefulness,</div>
<div class="verse">Until its large circumference enclosed</div>
<div class="verse">Shelter for flocks and herds; until its boughs</div>
<div class="verse">Afforded homes for happy multitudes—</div>
<div class="verse">The dormouse and the chaffinch and the jay</div>
<div class="verse">And countless myriads of minuter life;</div>
<div class="verse">Until its bole, too vast for the embrace</div>
<div class="verse">Of human arms, stood, in the forest depths,</div>
<div class="verse">The model and glory of the wood.</div>
<div class="verse">Its sister acorn perished in its pride.</div>
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<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</SPAN></span></p>
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