| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1477. Songs |
| | | By Langdon Elwyn Mitchell (“John Philip Varley”) |
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FEAR
THERE is a sound I would not hear, | |
| Although it music’s self might be; | |
| Lest in my breast a crystal sphere | |
| Might burst, might break for melody. | |
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| There is a face I would not see | 5 |
| Tho’ like the springtime it were fair; | |
| Lest love that was a barren tree | |
| Should burst in bloom—should blossoms bear. | |
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SWEETS THAT DIE
HOW fades that native breath | |
| The rose exhales, | 10 |
| Whenas her bloom is o’er! | |
| Altho’ her petals on the evening gales | |
| Are wafted by, a fleet of fairy sails, | |
| She is, alas! no more. | |
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| And love dies like the rose, | 15 |
| And fills the air | |
| With many a deep drawn sigh: | |
| Shall I not both embalm with sacred care, | |
| That they may have, in sweetly-breathëd air, | |
| Their immortality! | 20 |
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