| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| Warning and Reply |
| | | Emily Brontë (1818–48) |
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| IN the earth—the earth—thou shalt be laid, | |
| A gray stone standing over thee; | |
| Black mould beneath thee spread, | |
| And black mould to cover thee. | |
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| “Well—there is rest there, | 5 |
| So fast come thy prophecy: | |
| The time when my sunny hair | |
| Shall with grass roots entwined be.” | |
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| But cold—cold is that resting-place, | |
| Shut out from joy and liberty, | 10 |
| And all who lov’d thy living face | |
| Will shrink from it shudderingly. | |
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| “Not so. Here the world is chill, | |
| And sworn friends fall from me; | |
| But there—they will own me still, | 15 |
| And prize my memory.” | |
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| Farewell, then, all that love, | |
| All that deep sympathy: | |
| Sleep on: Heaven laughs above, | |
| Earth never misses thee. | 20 |
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| Turf-sod and tombstone drear | |
| Part human company; | |
| One heart breaks only—here, | |
| But that heart was worthy thee! | |
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