| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 749. Madroño |
| | | By Francis Bret Harte |
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| CAPTAIN of the Western wood, | |
| Thou that apest Robin Hood! | |
| Green above thy scarlet hose, | |
| How thy velvet mantle shows! | |
| Never tree like thee arrayed, | 5 |
| O thou gallant of the glade! | |
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| When the fervid August sun | |
| Scorches all it looks upon, | |
| And the balsam of the pine | |
| Drips from stem to needle fine, | 10 |
| Round thy compact shade arranged, | |
| Not a leaf of thee is changed! | |
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| When the yellow autumn sun | |
| Saddens all it looks upon, | |
| Spreads its sackcloth on the hills, | 15 |
| Strews its ashes in the rills, | |
| Thou thy scarlet hose dost doff, | |
| And in limbs of purest buff | |
| Challengest the sombre glade | |
| For a sylvan masquerade. | 20 |
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| Where, oh, where, shall he begin | |
| Who would paint thee, Harlequin? | |
| With thy waxen burnished leaf, | |
| With thy branches’ red relief, | |
| With thy polytinted fruit,— | 25 |
| In thy spring or autumn suit,— | |
| Where begin, and, oh, where end, | |
| Thou whose charms all art transcend! | |
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