Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Harrison SmithMorris

1276 A Pine-Tree Buoy

WHERE all the winds were tranquil,

And all the odors sweet,

And rings of tumbling upland

Sloped down to kiss your feet:

There, in a nest of verdure,

You grew from bud to bough;

You heard the song at mid-day,—

At eve the plighted vow.

But fate that gives a guerdon

Takes back a double fee:

She hewed you from your homestead

And set you in the sea.

And every bowling billow

Bends down your barren head

To hearken if the whisper

Of what you knew is dead.