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Title: The Vine And The Sunflower, A Fable
Author: J. C. Manning [
More Titles by Manning]
A very young Vine in a garden grew,
And she longed for a lover--as maidens do;
And many a dear little tendril threw
About her in innocent spirit.
For she yearned to climb upward--who is it that don't?
Only give man a chance, and then see if he wont:
To rise in the world, though some fail to own 't,
Is a weakness we all inherit.
So this very young Vine, with excusable taste,
And knowing such things for her good were placed,
Looked all round the garden with glances chaste
For a something her faith to pin to.
The fair little wisher had thoughts of her own,
Nor cared for the pleasure of climbing alone;
To perhaps the same feeling most ladies are prone,
But that question we'll not now go into.
The first thing that came in her youthful way
Was a gold-featured Sunflower--gaudy and gay--
Who dressed himself up in resplendent array,
And gazed on the sun as an equal.
"Look! look!" quoth the Vine: "He's a lover of mine:
"And see how the gold round his face doth shine!"
So at once she began round the stem to twine;
But mark what befel in the sequel.
One morning, soon after, a hurricane rose:
And as most people know, when the storm-god blows,
The hollow of heart is the thing that goes
To the ground--and the wind sweeps past it.
So the arrogant Sunflower, lofty in pride,
And hollow from root to branch beside,
Soon tumbled before the stormy tide,
And lay where the wind had cast it.
It was well for the Vine that her tendrils' hold
Was a clasp that a moment served to unfold;
So she turned from the thing that she thought was gold
With a heart for the warning grateful:
And that which had dazzled her youthful eyes--
Which filled her young bosom with sweet surprise--
The flow'r which she took for a golden prize--
Became all to her that was hateful.
[The end]
J. C. Manning's poem: Vine And The Sunflower, A Fable
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