| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. (1878–1962). Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1920. 1920. |
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| Rebels |
| | | Louis Untermeyer (1885–1977) |
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| STIFF in midsummer green, the stolid hillsides | |
| March with their trees, dependable and stanch, | |
| Except where here and there a lawless maple | |
| Thrusts to the sky one red, rebellious branch. | |
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| You see them standing out, these frank insurgents, | 5 |
| With that defiant and arresting plume; | |
| Scattered, they toss this flame like some wild signal, | |
| Calling their comrades to a brilliant doom. | |
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| What can it mean—this strange, untimely challenge; | |
| This proclamation of an early death? | 10 |
| Are they so tired of earth they fly the banner | |
| Of dissolution and a bleeding faith? | |
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| Or is it, rather than a brief defiance, | |
| An anxious welcome to a vivid strife? | |
| A glow, a heart-beat, and a bright acceptance | 15 |
| Of all the rich exuberance of life. | |
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| Rebellious or resigned, they flaunt their color, | |
| A sudden torch, a burning battle-cry. | |
| “Light up the world,” they wave to all the others; | |
“Swiftly we live and splendidly we die.”
Harper’s Magazine | 20 |
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