| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Quilts | | By Mary Willis Shuey |
| | | THEY gave me the quilt that Great-aunt Elizabeth made— | |
| A quilt of pink roses, and tiny careful stitches. | |
| It goes in my chest, for in October I marry. | |
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| Pink roses, with stems of green on a background of white, | |
| And Great-aunt Elizabeth pieced it for her own chest. | 5 |
| She pieced it with trembling hands, for her lover had gone | |
| To fight with the South. | |
| Elizabeth filled in the long days with squares of pink, | |
| Fitting the pattern together with quick, nervous fingers; | |
| Roses of pink, for love and a bride. | 10 |
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| But here is a spot of red among the pink roses. | |
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| I wonder what is stitched into the quilting. | |
| She finished it long afterwards, when war | |
| Had taken all she had but memories. | |
| She pieced her life into a pink-rose quilt | 15 |
| When war was making patch-work of her soul. | |
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| They gave me the quilt that Great-aunt Elizabeth made— | |
| A quilt of pink roses with stems of green, for a bride. | |
| But I see all the time the splotch of blood in the roses. | |
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| October is so far when war is near. | 20 | | | |
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