| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1491. Symbols |
| | | By Vance Thompson |
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| GREEN grew the reeds and pale they were, | |
| And all the sunless grass was gray; | |
| The sluggish coils of marsh-water | |
| Dripped thickly over root and stone; | |
| In the deep woods there was no day, | 5 |
| No day within them, shine or sun,— | |
| Only the night alway. | |
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| And evermore the cypresses | |
| Against the cold sky rocked and swung; | |
| The lurching of the high, black trees, | 10 |
| Their sprawling black tops tossed and flung | |
| Against the sky. She made a hut | |
| Of dripping stone and wattled clay, | |
| And the small window-space was shut | |
| With woven reeds, green and gray. | 15 |
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| The comely stars paced soberly | |
| In the blue gardens overhead, | |
| And morn and eve the housing sky | |
| Shifted in blue and gold and red; | |
| But She who dwelt in the stone hut | 20 |
| Knew not these things; on gathered knees | |
| She leaned her face, her thick hair shut | |
| Her from the stars and trees. | |
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