| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | The Orchard | | By John Towner Frederick |
| | | THE SWIFTNESS of blown youth, swiftness of death, | |
| Are in the orchard bloom and blossom-fall. | |
| And in a little while is none at all | |
| Of this cool-flaming glory. Like a breath | |
| Blown on the pane, it fades without a trace | 5 |
| To dim new leaves that hide the nesting bird. | |
| I think there is not any quickest word | |
| So swift as beauty’s passing from its place. | |
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| Yet we who dwell in love beneath this bough | |
| Know neither fading nor the falling flower. | 10 |
| Our immortality is all-secure | |
| As Beauty’s, ruling still the Then and Now, | |
| Careless what fleeting error stains the hour— | |
| Child of the fragile phantoms that endure. | | | | |
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