Beneath his blows of might!

"And round about me viciously

The splinters flashed and flew;

Some sharply grazed the shuddering eye,

Some pattered down the dew.

"Childlike, I strove to pick them up,

But stumbling forward, sunk,

O'er the wild pea and buttercup,

Across the smitten trunk.

"Just then, with all its ponderous force