| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Prescience | | By Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) |
| | | THE NEW moon hung in the sky, | |
| The sun was low in the west, | |
| And my betroth’d and I | |
| In the churchyard paused to rest— | |
| Happy maiden and lover, | 5 |
| Dreaming the old dream over: | |
| The light winds wander’d by, | |
| And robins chirp’d from the nest. | |
| |
| And lo! in the meadow-sweet | |
| Was the grave of a little child, | 10 |
| With a crumbling stone at the feet, | |
| And the ivy running wild— | |
| Tangled ivy and clover | |
| Folding it over and over: | |
| Close to my sweetheart’s feet | 15 |
| Was the little mound up-piled. | |
| |
| Stricken with nameless fears | |
| She shrank and clung to me, | |
| And her eyes were fill’d with tears | |
| For a sorrow I did not see: | 20 |
| Lightly the winds were blowing, | |
| Softly her tears were flowing— | |
| Tears for the unknown years, | |
| And a sorrow that was to be! | | | | |
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