A Forest Scene

As I went down a forest place
   At the closing of the year
To find me peace, and gather grace
   In this green gladness here.
I saw a scene I knew of old,
   In many a year gone by --
A loveliness to have and hold
Here, with the gully waters cold,
   And the bland, blue peeping sky.
 
And I saw the blue wrens trooping near,
   And I heard the thrushes call,
And found surcease from worldly fear --
   For a peace was over all.
And my mind went back to long ago,
   For here was a scene I knew
Where the gums and ancient tree ferns grow,
And the ever-lasting waters flow,
   And life yields little new.
 
And I thought of the world -- of the world of men,
   Who ever seek them change,
And haste, and hectic, haste again
   To a goal beyond their range.
And I heard the thrush and the blue wren there
   Fluting their songs of glee --
For them this world was passing fair,
And they found content and gladness there.
   Why came not peace to me?
 
Then I saw life, as men see life --
   I who am but a man;
And I dreamed of a scene devoid of strife,
   Built on the good God's plan.
And I came me back from that forest place,
   With a dream to have and hold,
Of men with naught but life to face,
Of men grown young in simple grace,
   And the birds and the bush grown old!