| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | The Pine at Timber-line | | By Harriet Monroe |
| | From “Mountain Poems”
WHAT has bent you, | |
| Warped and twisted you, | |
| Torn and crippled you?— | |
| What has embittered you, | |
| O lonely tree? | 5 |
| |
| You search the rocks for a footing, | |
| dragging scrawny roots; | |
| You bare your thin breast to the storms, | |
| and fling out wild arms behind you; | |
| You throw back your witch-like head, | 10 |
| with wisps of hair stringing the wind. | |
| |
| You fight with the snows, | |
| You rail and shriek at the tempests. | |
| Old before your time, you challenge the cold stars. | |
| |
| Be still, be satisfied! | 15 |
| Stand straight like your brothers in the valley, | |
| The soft green valley of summer down below. | |
| |
| Why front the endless winter of the peak? | |
| Why seize the lightning in your riven hands? | |
| Why cut the driven wind and shriek aloud? | 20 |
| |
| Why tarry here? | | | | |
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