Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Amelia WalstienCarpenter

757 Recollection

A SILVER birch-tree like a sacred maid

Set with a guard of stalwart hemlocks round,

Whose low-toned airs stole by with sighing sound,

Stirred, shivering slightly, as if half afraid

Where the black shadow crept along the ground.

Breathless she stood,—as one whose work is stayed,

But threads her shuttle while her thought has strayed

To times when wild fauns haunted all the rills,

And piped among the deep noon-checkered hills

Till all the land with song was overlaid.

O Pan, dear Pan! come forth from out the dark

Of those dream days; outsing our thrush and lark

Till laughter-loving youths from windowsills

Shall whisper, “Hark! who sang that love-song? Hark!”