| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| Death As the Teacher of Love-Lore |
| | | Frank T. Marzials (b. 1840) |
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| ’T WAS in mid autumn, and the woods were still. | |
| A brooding mist from out the marshlands lay | |
| Like age’s clammy hand upon the day, | |
| Soddening it;—and the night rose dank and chill. | |
| I watched the sere leaves falling, falling, till | 5 |
| Old thoughts, old hopes, seemed fluttering too away, | |
| And then I sighed to think how life’s decay, | |
| And change, and time’s mischances, Love might kill. | |
| Sudden a shadowy horseman, at full speed | |
| Spurring a pale horse, passed me swiftly by, | 10 |
| And mocking shrieked, “Thy love is dead indeed, | |
| Haste to the burial!”—With a bitter cry | |
| I swooned, and wake to wonder at my creed, | |
| Learning from Death that Love can never die. | |
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