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

By MargaretDeland

1291 Love and Death

ALAS! that men must see

Love, before Death!

Else they content might be

With their short breath;

Aye, glad, when the pale sun

Showed restless Day was done,

And endless Rest begun.

Glad, when with strong, cool hand

Death clasped their own,

And with a strange command

Hushed every moan;

Glad to have finished pain,

And labor wrought in vain,

Blurred by Sin’s deepening stain.

But Love’s insistent voice

Bids Self to flee—

“Live that I may rejoice,

Live on, for me!”

So, for Love’s cruel mind,

Men fear this Rest to find,

Nor know great Death is kind!