Contents -Volume INDEX -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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

Despondency

By Arlo Bates (1850–1918)

SPRING comes with soft caress,

And paints thy cheek

And perfumes thy long hair,

That dead thou may’st be fair.

Then summer brings her buds

And wealth of leaves,

That in the dusty tomb

Thy grave-clothes lack not bloom.

Autumn gives store of fruit

And goodly cheer,

That thy funereal feast

Shall not be scant, at least.

And winter brings a shroud,—

Last gift to thee;

Cover the grave-mound high;

Thou wert born, sweet, to die!