Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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

By James BenjaminKenyon

1310 Quatrains

YON clouds that roam the deserts of the air,

On wind-swift barbs, o’er many an azure plain,

Scarce pause to lift to Allah one small prayer,

Ere Ishmael’s spirit drives them forth again.

I DREAMED two spirits came—one dusk as night:

“Mortals miscall me Life,” he sadly saith;

The other, with a smile like morning light,

Flashed his strong wings and spake,

“Men name me Death.”

ARISE, O soul, and gird thee up anew,

Though the black camel Death kneel at thy gate;

No beggar thou that thou for alms shouldst sue;

Be the proud captain still of thine own fate!