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

By Horace L.Traubel

1340 Epicedium

LIKE to the leaf that falls,

Like to the rose that fades,

Thou art—and still art not!

We whom this thought enthralls,

We whom this mystery shades,

Are bared before our lot!

Like to the light gone out,

Like to the sun gone down,

Thou art—and yet we feel

That something more than doubt,

And more than Nature’s frown,

The Great Good must reveal.

’T is not with thankless heart,

Nor yet with covert hand,

We reach from deeps to thee:

We take out grief apart,

And with it bravely stand

Beside the voiceless sea!

O, gentle memory mine—

I fill the world with thee,

And with thy blessing sleep!

But for thy love divine

To warm the day for me,

Why should I wake or weep?