| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 528. Aspects of the Pines |
| | | By Paul Hamilton Hayne |
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| TALL, sombre, grim, against the morning sky | |
| They rise, scarce touched by melancholy airs, | |
| Which stir the fadeless foliage dreamfully, | |
| As if from realms of mystical despairs. | |
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| Tall, sombre, grim, they stand with dusky gleams | 5 |
| Brightening to gold within the woodland’s core, | |
| Beneath the gracious noontide’s tranquil beams,— | |
| But the weird winds of morning sigh no more. | |
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| A stillness, strange, divine, ineffable, | |
| Broods round and o’er them in the wind’s surcease, | 10 |
| And on each tinted copse and shimmering dell | |
| Rests the mute rapture of deep hearted peace. | |
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| Last, sunset comes—the solemn joy and might | |
| Borne from the west when cloudless day declines— | |
| Low, flute-like breezes sweep the waves of light, | 15 |
| And, lifting dark green tresses of the pines, | |
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| Till every lock is luminous, gently float, | |
| Fraught with hale odors up the heavens afar, | |
| To faint when twilight on her virginal throat | |
| Wears for a gem the tremulous vesper star. | 20 |
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