| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| John the Pilgrim |
| | | Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832–1914) |
| | | | | The Mirage. A.D. 1249 |
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| BENEATH the sand-storm John the Pilgrim prays; | |
| But when he rises, lo! an Eden smiles, | |
| Green leafy slopes, meadows of camomiles, | |
| Clasp’d in a silvery river’s winding maze: | |
| “Water, water! Blessed be God!” he says, | 5 |
| And totters gasping toward those happy isles. | |
| Then all is fled! Over the sandy piles | |
| The bald-ey’d vultures come and stand at gaze. | |
| “God heard me not,” says he, “blessed be God,” | |
| And dies. But as he nears the pearly strand, | 10 |
| Heav’n’s outer coast where waiting angels stand, | |
| He looks below: “Farewell, thou hooded clod, | |
| Brown corpse the vultures tear on bloody sand, | |
| God heard my prayer for life—blessed be God!” | |
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