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
What have I Done?
By Lillien Blanche Fearing (18631901)I
The forward-surging moments as they roll;
Each pulse seems quicker than the one before,
And lo! my days pile up against my soul
As clouds pile up against the golden sun:
Alas! what have I done? what have I done?
Or hide my soul as in a gloomy crypt;
No idle hands into my bosom creep;
And yet, as water-drops from house-eaves drip,
So, viewless, melt my days, and from me run:
Alas! what have I done? what have I done?
Or scorned the music of the flowing rills
Whose numerous liquid tongues sing to the hours;
Yet rise my days behind me like the hills,
Unstarred by light of mighty triumphs won:
Alas! what have I done? what have I done?
Cease thy lament! for life is but the flower;
The fruit comes after death: how canst thou know
The roundness of its form, its grace and power?
Death is Life’s morning; when thy work’s begun,
Then ask thyself, What yet is to be done?
The Sleeping World, and Other Poems. 1887.