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

By Harriet PrescottSpofford

613 Evanescence

WHAT ’S the brightness of a brow?

What ’s a mouth of pearls and corals?

Beauty vanishes like a vapor,

Preach the men of musty morals!

Should the crowd then, ages since,

Have shut their ears to singing Homer,

Because the music fled as soon

As fleets the violets’ aroma?

Ah, for me, I thrill to see

The bloom a velvet cheek discloses,

Made of dust—I well believe it!

So are lilies, so are roses!