Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
A Sigh
By Harriet Prescott Spofford (18351921)[From Poems. 1882.]
I
Nothing but a rose
Any wind might rob of half its savor,
Any wind that blows.
With a hand as chill,—
Ah, the flying touch upon them lingers,
Stays, and thrills them still!
Crumpled fold on fold,—
Once it lay upon her breast, and ages
Cannot make it old!