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
To David Friedrich Strauss
By Epes Sargent (1813–1880)[From Harper’s Cyclopædia of British and American Poetry. Edited by Epes Sargent. 1882.]
T
To be assured that life would not end here;
Since utter death is less a thing to fear
In thy esteem than life in clearer day:
For life, continuous life, thou wouldst not pray;
And even reunion with the loved and near
Is not to thee a prospect that could cheer,
Or shed a glory on thy earthward way.
O power of thought perverse and morbid mood,
Conspiring thus to numb and blind the heart!
The universe gives back what we impart,—
As we elect, gives poison or pure food:
Mock-silence—the soul’s whisper,—and Despair
Becomes to man than Hope itself more fair!