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
A Song of Days
By Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823–1911)O
Whose air, sweet air, steals on from flower to flower,
Could’st thou not yield one hour
When the glad heart says “This alone is May”?
Whose tremulous pulse beats on to life’s best boon,
Could’st thou not give one noon,
One noon of noons, all other bliss above?
Whose nobler longings bid all conflict cease,
Grant but one day’s deep peace
Beyond the utmost rumor of all strife.
Let it at least yield one consummate bloom,
Or else there is no room
To find delight in love or life or May.