| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| William Watson. b. 1858 |
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| 854. The Great Misgiving |
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| 'NOT ours,' say some, 'the thought of death to dread; | |
| Asking no heaven, we fear no fabled hell: | |
| Life is a feast, and we have banqueted— | |
| Shall not the worms as well? | |
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| 'The after-silence, when the feast is o'er, | 5 |
| And void the places where the minstrels stood, | |
| Differs in nought from what hath been before, | |
| And is nor ill nor good.' | |
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| Ah, but the Apparition—the dumb sign— | |
| The beckoning finger bidding me forgo | 10 |
| The fellowship, the converse, and the wine, | |
| The songs, the festal glow! | |
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| And ah, to know not, while with friends I sit, | |
| And while the purple joy is pass'd about, | |
| Whether 'tis ampler day divinelier lit | 15 |
| Or homeless night without; | |
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| And whether, stepping forth, my soul shall see | |
| New prospects, or fall sheer—a blinded thing! | |
| There is, O grave, thy hourly victory, | |
| And there, O death, thy sting. | 20 |
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