| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | I. Serenity
Beside the Dead | | By Ina Donna Coolbrith (1841–1928) |
| | | WITH hands that folded are from every task, | |
| It must be sweet, O thou my dead, to lie | |
| Sealed with the seal of the great mystery,— | |
| The lips that nothing answer, nothing ask; | |
| The life-long struggle ended; ended quite | 5 |
| The weariness of patience and of pain; | |
| And the eyes closed to open not again | |
| On desolate dawn or dreariness of night. | |
| It must be sweet to slumber and forget; | |
| To have the poor tired heart so still at last: | 10 |
| Done with all yearning, done with all regret; | |
| Doubt, fear, hope, sorrow, all for ever past: | |
| Past all the hours, or slow of wing or fleet— | |
| It must be sweet, it must be very sweet! | | | | |
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