Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Mackenzie Bell b. 1856

At the Grave of Dante Gabriel Rossetti

HERE of a truth the world’s extremes are met:

Amid the gray, the moss-grown tombs of those

Who led long lives obscure till came the close

When, their calm days being done, their suns were set—

Here stands a grave, all monumentless yet,

Wrapped like the others in a deep repose;

But while yon wakeful ocean ebbs and flows

It is a grave the world shall not forget,

This grave on which meek violets grow and thyme,

Summer’s fair heralds; and a stranger now

Pauses to see a poet’s resting-place,

But one of those who will in many a clime

On each return of this sad day avow

Fond love’s regret that ne’er they saw his face.