Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By James MatthewLegaré

441 Amy

THIS is the pathway where she walked,

The tender grass pressed by her feet.

The laurel boughs laced overhead,

Shut out the noonday heat.

The sunshine gladly stole between

The softly undulating limbs.

From every blade and leaf arose

The myriad insect hymns.

A brook ran murmuring beneath

The grateful twilight of the trees,

Where from the dripping pebbles swelled

A beech’s mossy knees.

And there her robe of spotless white,

(Pure white such purity beseemed!)

Her angel face, and tresses bright

Within the basin gleamed.

The coy sweetbriers half detained

Her light hem as we moved along!

To hear the music of her voice

The mockbird hushed his song.

But now her little feet are still,

Her lips the Everlasting seal;

The hideous secrets of the grave

The weeping eyes reveal.

The path still winds, the brook descends,

The skies are bright as then they were.

My Amy is the only leaf

In all that forest sear.