Douglas Malloch

Their faint "honk-honk" announces them,
    The geese when they come flying north;
Above the far horizon's hem
    From out the south they issue forth.

They weave their figures in the sky.
    They write their name upon its dome.
And, o'er and o'er, we hear them cry
    Their cry of gladness and of home.

Now lakes shall loose their icy hold
    Upon the banks, and crocus bloom;
The sun shall warm the river's cold
    And pierce the Winter's armored gloom;

The vines upon the oaken tree
    Shall shake their wavy tresses forth,
The grass shall wake, the rill go free—
    For, see! The geese are flying north!

A loose limb hangs upon a pine three log-lengths from the ground,
A norway tumbles with a whine and shakes the woods around.
The loose limb plunges from its place and zigzags down below;
And Jack is lying on his face—there's red upon the snow.

They'll dress him in a cotton shirt, they'll cross his horny hands;
They'll dig a hollow in the dirt within the forest lands;
They'll put him in a wooden box; they'll wonder whence he came,
And build a monument of rocks without a date or name.

"He got a letter, that I know." "I wonder where it is."
"I heard him speak not long ago about a wife of his."
"Employment agent shipped him up he didn't have a cent."
"He was a most peculiar pup." "He was a gloomy gent."

And so they'll talk around the fire a little longer yet;
But even idle tongues will tire, and even men forget.
A season passes, and a year. "Why, yes, now thinkin' back,
A widow-maker hit him here. We used to call him Jack."

And far away, 'mid city streets Jack staggers down no more,
A heart, a woman's, madly beats, each knock upon the door.
She's back with mother in the flat. She thought she wouldn't care.
Why does she always jump like that, each step upon the stair?

"For anger burns so quick a flame the year that you are wed.
I said some things just as they came I never should have said.
It takes a little time, I guess, the married life to live—
To want your way a little less, to suffer and forgive."

They'll dress him in a cotton shirt, they'll cross his horny hands;
They'll dig a hollow in the dirt within the forest lands;
They'll put him in a wooden box; they'll wonder whence he came,
And build a monument of rocks without a date or name.

When some one has slipped you the dirk in the dark,
    When eyes that are loving are lies,
When some one you trusted has made you a mark,
    And somehow the heart in you dies,
There's dirt for you, hurt for you, trouble enough
    To shatter the faith of a man;
But don't ever think there is trouble so tough
    That you can't overcome it—you can.

When living is losing its flavor to you,
    When worry is making you old;
When there is no joy in the thing that you do
    Nor truth in the thing you are told,
There's balm for you, calm for you, out in the wild,
    There's hope for you up on the hill.
Get up in the timber and play like a child;
    You can overcome it—you will.

Get up in the timber; the trail and the trees
    Will make you a man in a day.
The smell of the soil and the breath of the breeze
    Will blow all your troubles away.
There's pine for you, wine for you, hope for you there—
    The sun and the moon and the star—
If the ways of the city are not on the square,
    Get up in the woods—where they are.

It ain't the trees that block the trail,
    It ain't the ash or pine;
For, if you fall or if you fail,
    It was some pesky vine
That tripped you up, that threw you down,
    That caught you unawares:
The big things you can walk aroun'—
    But watch the way for snares.

In life it ain't the biggest things
    That make the hardest load;
It ain't the burden big that brings
    Defeat upon the road.
Some fault you hardly knew you had
    May hurt more than you think—
Some little habit that is bad
    May put you on the blink.