| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| All Souls’ Night |
| | | Dora Sigerson (b 187–) |
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| O MOTHER, mother, I swept the hearth, I set his chair and the white board spread, | |
| I prayed for his coming to our kind Lady when Death’s sad doors would let out the dead; | |
| A strange wind rattled the window-pane, and down the lane a dog howled on. | |
| I called his name and the candle flame burnt dim, pressed a hand the doorlatch upon. | |
| Deelish! Deelish! my woe forever that I could not sever coward flesh from fear. | 5 |
| I called his name and the pale Ghost came; but I was afraid to meet my dear. | |
| O mother, mother, in tears I checked the sad hours past of the year that ’s o’er, | |
| Till by God’s grace I might see his face and hear the sound of his voice once more; | |
| The chair I set from the cold and wet, he took when he came from unknown skies | |
| Of the land of the dead; on my bent brown head I felt the reproach of his saddened eyes; | 10 |
| I closed my lids on my heart’s desire, crouched by the fire, my voice was dumb; | |
| At my clean-swept hearth he had no mirth, and at my table he broke no crumb. | |
| Deelish! Deelish! my woe forever that I could not sever coward flesh from fear: | |
| His chair put aside when the young cock cried, and I was afraid to meet my dear. | |
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