| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | The Camellia Tree of Matsue | | By Amy Lowell |
| | From “Lacquer Prints”
AT Matsue | |
| There was a Camellia Tree of great beauty | |
| Whose blossoms were white as honey wax | |
| Splashed and streaked with the pink of fair coral. | |
| At night | 5 |
| When the moon rose in the sky, | |
| The Camellia Tree would leave its place | |
| By the gateway, | |
| And wander up and down the garden, | |
| Trailing its roots behind it | 10 |
| Like a train of rustling silk. | |
| The people in the house, | |
| Hearing the scrape of them upon the gravel, | |
| Looked out into the garden | |
| And saw the tree, | 15 |
| With its flowers erect and peering, | |
| Pressed against the shojii. | |
| Many nights the tree walked about the garden, | |
| Until the women and children | |
| Became frightened, | 20 |
| And the Master of the house | |
| Ordered that the tree be cut down. | |
| But when the gardener brought his axe | |
| And struck at the trunk of the tree, | |
| There spouted forth a stream of dark blood; | 25 |
| And when the stump was torn up, | |
| The hole quivered like an open wound. | | | | |
|
|
