Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By George EdwardWoodberry

1217 Love’s Rosary

SWEET names, the rosary of my evening prayer,

Told on my lips like kisses of good-night

To friends who go a little from my sight,

And some through distant years shine clear and fair!—

So this dear burden that I daily bear

Mighty God taketh, and doth loose me quite;

And soft I sink in slumbers pure and light

With thoughts of human love and heavenly care;

But when I mark how into shadow slips

My manhood’s prime, and weep fast-passing friends,

And heaven’s riches making poor my lips,

And think how in the dust love’s labor ends,

Then, where the cluster of my hearth-stone shone,

“Bid me not live,” I sigh, “till all be gone.”