I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing

Part of the cluster CALAMUS.

I saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing.

I SAW in Louisiana a live-oak growing, All alone stood it, and the moss hung down from the
branches; Without any companion it grew there, uttering joyous
leaves of dark green, And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think
of myself; But I wonder'd how it could utter joyous leaves,
standing alone there, without its friend, its
lover near—for I knew I could not; And I broke off a twig with a certain number of
leaves upon it, and twined around it a little
moss, And brought it away—and I have placed it in sight in
my room; It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear
friends, (For I believe lately I think of little else than of
them;) Yet it remains to me a curious token—it makes me
think of manly love; —For all that, and though the live-oak glistens there
in Louisiana, solitary, in a wide flat space, Uttering joyous leaves all its life, without a friend, a
lover, near, I know very well I could not.

Part of the cluster CALAMUS.