Ruth Mason Rice. Trailing Arbutus. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

Trailing Arbutus

By Ruth Mason Rice


WHY do you hide beneath the pines, and cling to earth,
Infrequent, foolish flower of fragrant breath?
Your blossoms fresh and pink, like babies at their birth;
Your twigs as brown and brittle as old women at their death.