Charles Bertram Johnson, "To an Oak" (1906)
Has made thy limbs exult in growing thew;
And deeper, surer in the earth descend
The thousand tenderils that were strengthening you;
With best of sun and song and rain and dew
High on the hill thy strength, tho storm and wind
Oft did thy tender thewless youth unbend;
But greater thou in limb and power grew.
Oh, mighty oak! with faith serene and sure,
Impart to me the secret of thy girth,
Invest me master of thy patient will;
That through the coming years I may endure,
And deeper rooted in the fields of earth,
At last, as thou, be sovereign of a hill.
Published in Colored American Magazine, April 1906