So Beautiful Is The Tree Of Night
By Pauline Hanson

When I see how high it is,
when I see how its great branches arch across the sky
and how from there,  all of a blackness,
its branches bend over and down
until down to the world that must lie in its shadows --
when I see this,
so beautiful is the tree of night,
in country and in country
I am whoever watches it.



And when in their long flight to somewhere,
small and shining birds
begin to come into its darkness;
when its great branches are heavy with them --
heavy with the ones who find their quiet sleep,
heavy with the others who in their dreams of flying
shake their silver feathers --
when I see this,
so beautiful is the tree of night,
before the day fades it
I watch from century and from century.





Fine art titled "Tree of Crows" is by C. D. Riedrich, 1822.