Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Sir Edmund William Gosse 1849–1928

Song for Music

Gosse-Si

COUNT the flashes in the surf,

Count the crystals in the snow,

Or the blades above the turf,

Or the dead that sleep below!

These ye count—yet shall not know,—

While I wake or while I slumber,—

Where my thoughts and wishes go,

What her name, and what their number.

Ask the cold and midnight sea,

Ask the silent-falling frost,

Ask the grasses on the lea,

Or the mad maid, passion-crost!

They may tell of posies tost

To the waves where blossoms blow not,

Tell of hearts that staked and lost,—

But of me and mine they know not.