| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Shrouds | | By Reeves Brook |
| | | HO! Stranger, consider and give answer!— | |
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| Whether a lonely bed in a sun-struck veldt | |
| With the eagles crying above you, | |
| And a soft-nosed bullet spreading and grinding | |
| Beneath a bloodless puncture, | 5 |
| And the winds singing in the brilliant-blue: | |
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| Or a damned respectable passing at Clapham— | |
| Rival undertakers with black-edged Gothic-lettered | |
| Cards waiting on your unwashed doorstep. | |
| (Mary Ann is resting from the shock of grief!) | 10 |
| “Very reverent, Madam,” say they, “with three carriages, | |
| Black horses and plumes” (to say nothing of a brass-bound | |
| Coffin!); “cheap and very respectable.” (Damned respectable!) | |
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| Such is the passing of most men. | |
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| Better, say I, the sand, and the sound of the eagles crying! | 15 | | | |
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