Gathering
Leaves
by
William Wordsworth
Spades
take up leaves
No
better than spoons,
And
bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I
make a great noise
Of
rustling all day
Like
rabbit and deer
Running away.
But
the mountains I raise
Elude
my embrace,
Flowing
over my arms
And into my face.
I
may load and unload
Again
and again
Till
I fill the whole shed,
And
what have I then?
Next
to nothing for weight;
And
since they grew duller
From
contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.
Next to nothing for use.
But
a crop is a crop,
And
who’s to say where
The
harvest shall stop?