| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| Burnt Lands |
| | | Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts (1860–1943) |
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| ON other fields and other scenes the morn | |
| Laughs from her blue,—but not such scenes are these, | |
| Where comes no cheer of Summer leaves and bees, | |
| And no shade mitigates the day’s white scorn. | |
| These serious acres vast no groves adorn; | 5 |
| But giant trunks, bleak shapes that once were trees, | |
| Tower naked, unassuaged of rain or breeze, | |
| Their stern gray isolation grimly borne. | |
| The months roll over them, and mark no change; | |
| But when spring stirs, or autumn stills, the year, | 10 |
| Perchance some phantom leafage rustles faint | |
| Through their parched dreams,—some old-time notes ring strange, | |
| When in his slender treble, far and clear, | |
| Reiterates the rain-bird his complaint. | |
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