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.

-Walt Whitman