Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By William DeanHowells

704 Change

SOMETIMES, when after spirited debate

Of letters or affairs, in thought I go

Smiling unto myself, and all aglow

With some immediate purpose, and elate

As if my little, trivial scheme were great,

And what I would so were already so:

Suddenly I think of her that died, and know,

Whatever friendly or unfriendly fate

Befall me in my hope or in my pride,

It is all nothing but a mockery,

And nothing can be what it used to be,

When I could bid my happy life abide,

And build on earth for perpetuity,

Then, in the deathless days before she died.