Cambridge Poets 1900–1913

Constantine Michaelides . Yet light as maidens in a flower starred -dell They plunged their gnarled hands in the moss-hushed earth And spread their branches each to each in dance As of a host enchanted , seeming still To taunt with strange expectancy of life And foil with runic mystery of trees . Wild beasts Aled to the forest glades , whose peace Seemed as a haven on a cliff-bound coast, Smiling a sunlit smile within the rift Of sombre leaf -surged beeches , or of pines Stern -trunked and straight as spears of ancient work , Sky-piercing , grown to trees by long disuse . And trunks half- fallen told in deathless speech The tale of lightning , ev'n as riven scars Upon the face of warriors grim and old Tell tales of fierce blows given in ancient wars . And , by their side shimmering their silken leaves , The birches smiled in founts of laughing light , Whispering to winds who caught them in their arms Then fled , because they never would be wooed , But still beloved , still smiled a virgin smile Most lovable when most unwon ; and aspens Pretending grief , still trembled in the wind , Slavishly wooing the calm lofty beech Or weeping to the maples silence - clumped . The sunshafts laughed to pierce the guarded beech , Glistening past depths of proudly outstretched oaks Upon the nameless thickets , sons of trees , Or bastards choking the still - teeming earth , 126