With the second quatrain, the speaker presents two more images that also suggest the passage of time. (1) The first image is that of the tree. A tree that once provided shade and comfort to animals ("the herd") or people during the hot summer season eventually loses its leaves in the fall. With this image the speaker is not only suggesting that time passes quickly. He is also suggesting that, with the passage of time, an object (or person) loses its value. It may even become useless. (2) The second image is that of plants or crops that have been harvested and bundled together and carted away in a wagon. The edges of wheat that are dried and harvested often form a white, bristly fringe, which the speaker refers to as a "beard." Of course, as the student may guess, the word beard here is also meant to connect the image to humans (or specifically to the young man). An old man, after all, may also grow a "white and bristly beard." He also will lose his greenness, his youth. The most important word attached to this image is bier (in line 8). The speaker states that the crops are hauled away not on a wagon, but on a "bier." The word bier generally refers to a stand on which a corpse (a dead body) or a coffin is placed. The poet has inserted this death imagery purposely. Once again, the speaker (and the poet)