| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1633. The Arid Lands |
| | | By Herbert Bashford |
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| THESE lands are clothed in burning weather, | |
| These parched lands pant for God’s cool rain; | |
| I look away where strike together | |
| The burnished sky and barren plain. | |
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| I look away; no green thing gladdens | 5 |
| My weary eye—no flower, no tree, | |
| Naught save the earth, the sage-brush saddens | |
| The scorched, gray earth that sickens me. | |
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| Oh for the pines, where the sweet wind revels! | |
| The ringing laugh of the crystal creek! | 10 |
| Alas, gaunt Hunger haunts these levels, | |
| And Thirst goes wandering wan and weak. | |
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| No shadow falls where swiftly passes | |
| The gray coyote’s noiseless feet, | |
| No song of bird, no hint of grasses— | 15 |
| The home of Silence and of Heat! | |
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