Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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

By Robert KelleyWeeks

765 Medusa

ONE calm and cloudless winter night,

Under a moonless sky,

Whence I had seen the gracious light

Of sunset fade and die,

I stood alone a little space,

Where tree nor building bars

Its outlook, in a desert place,

The best to see the stars.

No sound was in the frosty air,

No light below the skies;

I looked above, and unaware

Looked in Medusa’s eyes:—

The eyes that neither laugh nor weep,

That neither hope nor fear,

That neither watch nor dream nor sleep

Nor sympathize nor sneer;

The eyes that neither spurn nor choose

Nor question nor reply,

That neither pardon nor accuse,

That yield not nor defy;

The eyes that hide not nor reveal,

That trust not nor betray,

That acquiesce not nor appeal,—

The eyes that never pray.

O love that will not be forgot!

O love that leaves alone!

O love that blinds and blesses not!

O love that turns to stone!