2 Cabbage Tree

New Zealand Cabbage Tree (Cordyline australis) by David Elliot

Canvas print on wooden frame

Size: 30cm x 30cm

This artwork was originally done for Katherine Mansfield's poem 'There's a solemn wind tonight.' This appeared in 100 New Zealand Poems for Children edited by Jo Noble. 

 There is a solemn wind tonight

That sings of solemn rain;

The trees that have been quiet so long

Flutter and start again.

 

The slender trees, the heavy trees,

The fruit trees laden and proud,

Lift up their branches to the wind

That cries to them so loud.

 

The little bushes and the plants

Bow to the solemn sound

And every tiniest blade of grass

Shakes on the quiet ground.