Contents -Volume INDEX -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889

Atalanta

By Maurice Thompson (1844–1901)

WHEN spring grows old, and sleepy winds

Set from the south with odors sweet,

I see my love, in green, cool groves,

Speed down dusk aisles on shining feet.

She throws a kiss and bids me run,

In whispers sweet as roses’ breath;

I know I cannot win the race,

And at the end, I know, is death.

But joyfully I bare my limbs,

Anoint me with the tropic breeze,

And feel through every sinew thrill

The vigor of Hippomenes.

O race of love! we all have run

Thy happy course through groves of spring,

And cared not, when at last we lost,

For life or death, or anything!