The Poetry Corner

The Bare Trees (The Rocky Road To Dublin)

By James Stephens

Unfortunates, on the bare tree! I mourn for ye That have no place to house, But on those winter-white cold boughs To sit, (How far apart ye sit) And brood In this wide, wintry solitude That has no song at all to hearten it. Fly away, little birds! Fly away to Spain, Stay there all the winter Then come back again; Come back in the summer When the leaves are thick; Little weeny cold birds Fly away quick.