Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | VI. Animate Nature | | The Scarlet Tanager | | Joel Benton (1832–1911) |
| | | A BALL of fire shoots through the tamarack | |
| In scarlet splendor, on voluptuous wings; | |
| Delirious joy the pyrotechnist brings, | |
| Who marks for us high summer’s almanac. | |
| How instantly the red-coat hurtles back! | 5 |
| No fiercer flame has flashed beneath the sky. | |
| Note now the rapture in his cautious eye, | |
| The conflagration lit along his track. | |
| Winged soul of beauty, tropic in desire, | |
| Thy love seems alien in our northern zone; | 10 |
| Thou giv’st to our green lands a burst of fire | |
| And callest back the fables we disown. | |
| The hot equator thou mightst well inspire, | |
| Or stand above some Eastern monarch’s throne. | | | | |
|
|
