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
We Lay us Down to Sleep
By Louise Chandler Moulton (18351908)W
And leave to God the rest.
Whether to wake and weep
Or wake no more be best.
The grave is cool and low,—
Have we found life so fair
That we should dread to go?
And left them sweet and red:
The rose the wild bee sips
Blooms on when he is dead.
But they who love us best,
When we are under ground,
Will laugh on with the rest.
But other hands can take:
No work beneath the sun
For which we need to wake.
If so it seemeth best
To Him who gave us breath
That we should go to rest.
Our weary eyes we close:
Whether to wake and weep
Or wake no more, He knows.