Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
Thomas Hood. 17981845653. The Death-bed
WE watch’d her breathing thro’ the night, | |
Her breathing soft and low, | |
As in her breast the wave of life | |
Kept heaving to and fro. | |
So silently we seem’d to speak, | 5 |
So slowly moved about, | |
As we had lent her half our powers | |
To eke her living out. | |
Our very hopes belied our fears, | |
Our fears our hopes belied— | 10 |
We thought her dying when she slept, | |
And sleeping when she died. | |
For when the morn came dim and sad, | |
And chill with early showers, | |
Her quiet eyelids closed—she had | 15 |
Another morn than ours. |