Vachel Lindsay was born in Springfield, Illinois on November 10, 1879. He was known as the Prairie Troubadour because he integrated music into his poems and performed them theatrically. He died in 1931.
My Lady Is Compared to a Young Tree
by Vachel Lindsay
When I see a young tree
In its white beginning,
With white leaves
And white buds
Barely tipped with green,
In the April weather,
In the weeping sunshine–
Then I see my lady,
My democratic queen,
Standing free and equal
With the youngest woodland sapling
Swaying, singing in the wind,
Delicate and white:
Soul so near to blossom,
Fragile, strong as death;
A kiss from far-off Eden,
A flash of Judgment’s trumpet–
April’s breath.
