T. Thomas Fortune, "The Tree of Tears" (1909)
And no, also, the Tree of Tears —
Through acuna conic of Hummers drear
From verdant springs' dead hopes and fears.
They Journey to the Winter snow,
The white throuds of the sleeping Spring.
And moving in a circle, go
A life in life in everything.
The Autumn leaves which fall to earth,
tipon their mother's faithful breast,
Will come ngain in other birth
From Winter's long and rigid test:--
Yes, they will come from dry and wet.
In fruits of garden, grain of feld,
And blowing of rose and violet.
A beauteous and a bounteous yield.
Oh, Tree of Tears! You naked, bare,
Stand firmly in the Autumn earth.--
The [illegible] to have the Maker's care.
The Serpent, you! of Man's first birth.
You Answer to the Master's call.
And, seasons four, that come and go,
Autumn, the saddest of them all,--
The children of your Eden's woe.
From the Springfield (mass.), Daily Republican
Published in Colored American Magazine, November 1909