441. Amy by James Matthew Legare. Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. 1900. An American Anthology, 1787-1900

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

441. Amy

By James Matthew Legaré


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	5
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,	10
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	15
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.	20

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,	25
The skies are bright as then they were.
My Amy is the only leaf
In all that forest sear.