| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 841. Albatross |
| | | By Charles Warren Stoddard |
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| TIME cannot age thy sinews, nor the gale | |
| Batter the network of thy feathered mail, | |
| Lone sentry of the deep! | |
| Among the crashing caverns of the storm, | |
| With wing unfettered, lo! thy frigid form | 5 |
| Is whirled in dreamless sleep! | |
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| Where shall thy wing find rest for all its might? | |
| Where shall thy lidless eye, that scours the night, | |
| Grow blank in utter death? | |
| When shall thy thousand years have stripped thee bare, | 10 |
| Invulnerable spirit of the air, | |
| And sealed thy giant-breath? | |
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| Not till thy bosom hugs the icy wave,— | |
| Not till thy palsied limbs sink in that grave, | |
| Caught by the shrieking blast, | 15 |
| And hurled upon the sea with broad wings locked, | |
| On an eternity of waters rocked, | |
| Defiant to the last! | |
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