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Home  »  A Library of American Literature  »  For Ronald in his Grave

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

For Ronald in his Grave

By Charles Goodrich Whiting (1842–1922)

[From The Saunterer. 1886.]

OH are the heavens clear, ye say?

Oh is the air still sweet?

Oh is there joy yet in the day,

And life yet in the street?

I thought the sky in tears would break,

I thought the winds would rave,

I thought that every heart would ache

For Ronald in his grave.

Oh Nature has a cruel heart

To smile when mine’s so sore!

Oh deeper stings the cruel smart

Than e’en it did before!

How can the merry earth go dance,

And all the banners wave,

The children shout, the horses prance,—

And Ronald in his grave?