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

By John Gardiner CalkinsBrainard

113 Epithalamium

I SAW two clouds at morning,

Tinged with the rising sun,

And in the dawn they floated on,

And mingled into one:

I thought that morning cloud was blest,

It moved so sweetly to the west.

I saw two summer currents

Flow smoothly to their meeting,

And join their course, with silent force,

In peace each other greeting:

Calm was their course through banks of green,

While dimpling eddies played between.

Such be your gentle motion,

Till life’s last pulse shall beat;

Like summer’s beam, and summer’s stream,

Float on, in joy, to meet

A calmer sea, where storms shall cease—

A purer sky, where all is peace.