| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XI. O Come Quickly
Sonnet: ‘If I might choose where my tired limbs shall lie’ | | By John Anster (1793–1867) |
| | | IF I might choose where my tired limbs shall lie | |
| When my task here is done, the Oak’s green crest | |
| Shall rise above my grave—a little mound | |
| Raised in some cheerful village-cemetery— | |
| And I could wish, that, with unceasing sound | 5 |
| A lonely mountain rill was murmuring by— | |
| In music—through the long soft twilight hours;— | |
| And let the hand of her, whom I love best, | |
| Plant round the bright green grave those fragrant flowers, | |
| In whose deep bells the wild-bee loves to rest— | 10 |
| And should the robin, from some neighbouring tree, | |
| Pour that dear song of her’s—oh, softly tread, | |
| For sure, if aught of Earth can sooth the Dead, | |
| He still must love that pensive melody! | | | | |
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