This simple looking verse is actually quite elaborate in structure. As one critic put it, one might not understand a single word yet still be charmed by it.

For more on this Civil War era poet, visit this site:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/sidney-lanier

Ballad of Trees and the Master

Sidney Lanier (1842 – 1881)

Into the woods my Master went,
Clean forspent, forspent.
Into the woods my Master came,
Forspent with love and shame.
But the olives they were not blind to Him;
The little gray leaves were kind to Him
The thorn-tree had a mind to Him
When into the woods He came.

Out of the woods my Master went,
And He was well content.
Out of the woods my Master came,
Content with death and shame.
When Death and Shame would woo Him last,
From under the trees they drew Him last:
’T was on a tree they slew Him—last,
When out of the woods He came.