Tree with a Bird in it

<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page10" name="page10"></SPAN>[10]</span></p> <div><SPAN name="h2H_4_0010" id="h2H_4_0010"></SPAN></div> <h2> <i>Edwin Arlington Robinson</i> </h2> <p class="quote"> (He mutters wearily in an undertone.)</p> <h3> RAMBUNCTO </h3> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <p class="i2"> Well, they're quite dead, Rambuncto; thoroughly dead. </p> <p class="i2"> It was a natural thing enough; my eyes </p> <p class="i2"> Stared baffled down the forest-aisles, brown and green, </p> <p class="i2"> Not learning what the marks were. Still, who learns? </p> <p class="i2"> Not I, who stooped and picked the things that day, </p> <p class="i2"> Scarlet and gold and smooth, friend ... smooth enough! </p> <p class="i2"> And she's in a vault now, old Jane Fotheringham, </p> <p class="i2"> My mother-in-law; and my wife's seven aunts, </p> <p class="i2"> And that cursed bird that used to sit and croak </p> <p class="i2"> Upon their pear-tree&mdash;they threw scraps to him&mdash; </p> <p class="i2"> My wife, too. Lord, that was a curious thing! </p> <p class="i2"> Because&mdash;"I don't like mushrooms much," I said, </p> <p class="i2"> And they ate all I picked. And then they died. </p> <p class="i2"> But ... Well, who knows it isn't better that way? </p> <p class="i2"> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page11" name="page11"></SPAN>[11]</span> It's quieter, at least.... Rambuncto&mdash;friend&mdash; </p> <p class="i2"> Why, you're not going?... Well&mdash;it's a stupid year, </p> <p class="i2"> And the world's very useless.... Sorry.... Still </p> <p class="i2"> The dusk intransience that I much prefer </p> <p class="i2"> Leaves place for little hope and less regret. </p> <p class="i2"> I don't suppose he'd care, to stay to dine </p> <p class="i2"> Under the circumstances.... What's life for? </p> </div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />