How patiently they wait--the bare brown trees
Through winter's sullen gloom,
With arms outspread as if in suppliance
Of vanished leaf and bloom!
Till Nature's voice shall sound its clarion call
Waking the earth from sleep,
These monarchs shorn of all their treasure stand
In silence long and deep.
O learn a lesson from the winter woods!
Hope on O troubled heart!
In patience wait! The blessing thou dost need
God will at last impart!
_Alice Jean Cleator, Ohio._
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