C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

William Channing Gannett (1840–1923)

A LITTLE House of Life,

With many noises rife,

Noises of joy and crime;

A little gate of birth,

Through which I slipped to earth

And found myself in Time.

And there, not far before,

Another little door,

One day to swing so free!

None pauses there to knock,

No other hand tries lock,—

It knows, and waits for me.

From out what Silent Land

I came, on Earth to stand

And learn life’s little art,

Is not in me to say:

I know I did not stray,—

Was sent; to come, my part.

And down what Silent Shore

Beyond yon little door

I pass, I cannot tell:

I know I shall not stray,

Nor ever lose the way,—

Am sent; and all is well.