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
Post-Meridian
By Wendell Phillips Garrison (1840–1907)[The Century Magazine. 1888.]
EVENING.
A
Nor furrowed cheeks have made the thrall of Time;
For Spring lies hidden under Winter’s rime,
And violets know the victory is theirs.
Even so the corn of Egypt, unawares,
Proud Nilus shelters with engulfing slime;
So Etna’s hardening crust a more sublime
Volley of pent-up fires at last prepares.
O face yet fair, if paler, and serene
With sense of duty done without complaint!
O venerable crown!—a living green,
Strength to the weak, and courage to the faint—
Thy bleaching locks, thy wrinkles, have but been
Fresh beads upon the rosary of a saint!