Classic Poem

There stands in th' leafless Ghetto
One spare-leaved, ancient tree;
Above the Ghetto noises
It moans eternally.

In wonderment it muses,
And murmurs with a sigh:
" Alas! how God-forsaken
And desolate am I!

" Alas, the stony alleys,
And noises loud and bold!
Where are ye, birds of summer?
Where are ye, woods of old?

" And where, ye breezes balmy
That wandered vagrant here?
And where, oh sweep of heavens
So deep and blue and clear?

" Where are ye, mighty giants?
Ye come not riding by
Upon your fiery horses,
A-whistling merrily.

" Of other days my dreaming,
Of other days, ah me!
When sturdy hero-races
Lived wild and glad and free!

" The old sun shone, how brightly!
The old lark sang, what song!
O'er earth Desire and Gladness
Reigned happily and long.

" But see! what are these ant-hills? —
These ants that creep and crawl?
Bereft of man and nature,
My life is stripped of all!

" And I, an ancient orphan,
What do I here alone?
My friends have all departed,
My youth and glory gone.

" Oh, tear me, root and branches!
No longer let me be
A living head-stone, brooding
O'er the grave of liberty. "