| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Inscription for an Old Bed | | By William Morris (1834–1896) |
| | | THE WIND ’s on the wold | |
| And the night is a-cold, | |
| And Thames runs chill | |
| ’Twixt mead and hill. | |
| But kind and dear | 5 |
| Is the old house here | |
| And my heart is warm | |
| Midst winter’s harm. | |
| Rest then and rest, | |
| And think of the best | 10 |
| ’Twixt summer and spring, | |
| When all birds sing | |
| In the town of the tree, | |
| And ye lie in me | |
| And scarce dare move, | 15 |
| Lest the earth and its love | |
| Should fade away | |
| Ere the full of the day. | |
| I am old and have seen | |
| Many things that have been; | 20 |
| Both grief and peace | |
| And wane and increase. | |
| No tale I tell | |
| Of ill or well, | |
| But this I say: | 25 |
| Night treadeth on day, | |
| And for worst or best | |
| Right good is rest. | | | | |
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