Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume III. Sorrow and Consolation. 1904. | | | | V. Death and Bereavement | | Love and Death | | Margaret Deland (1857–1945) |
| | | ALAS! that men must see | |
| Love, before Death! | |
| Else they content might be | |
| With their short breath; | |
| Aye, glad, when the pale sun | 5 |
| Showed restless day was done, | |
| And endless Rest begun. | |
| |
| Glad, when with strong, cool hand | |
| Death clasped their own, | |
| And with a strange command | 10 |
| Hushed every moan; | |
| Glad to have finished pain, | |
| And labor wrought in vain, | |
| Blurred by Sin’s deepening stain. | |
| |
| But Love’s insistent voice | 15 |
| Bids self to flee— | |
| “Live that I may rejoice, | |
| Live on, for me!” | |
| So, for Love’s cruel mind, | |
| Men fear this Rest to find, | 20 |
| Nor know great Death is kind! | | | | |
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