Poems

A woodman raises his axe, and a speaker cries, “Woodman, spare that tree!” The plea is for more than branches and shade: the tree holds a lifetime of memories.

In the young United States of the early nineteenth century, George P. Morris gives voice to private longings and public feeling alike. These poems move from love, loss, and home to patriotic songs, lively ballads, and scenes from the natural world. In “Woodman, Spare That Tree,” one speaker stands between an axe and a cherished landmark, determined to defend the past it embodies; elsewhere, the stakes turn to absent loved ones, endangered ships, and a nation’s ideals. Morris’s musical lines make each feeling sound close at hand. What memories, loyalties, and heartaches will these songs awaken in you?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.