Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume III. Sorrow and Consolation. 1904. | | | | V. Death and Bereavement | | The Dead | | Mathilde Blind (1841–1896) |
| | | THE DEAD abide with us! Though stark and cold | |
| Earth seems to grip them, they are with us still: | |
| They have forged our chains of being for good or ill; | |
| And their invisible hands these hands yet hold. | |
| Our perishable bodies are the mould | 5 |
| In which their strong imperishable will— | |
| Mortality’s deep yearning to fulfil— | |
| Hath grown incorporate through dim time untold. | |
| Vibrations infinite of life in death, | |
| As a star’s travelling light survives its star! | 10 |
| So may we hold our lives, that when we are | |
| The fate of those who then will draw this breath, | |
| They shall not drag us to their judgment-bar, | |
| And curse the heritage which we bequeath. | | | | |
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