| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| The Sibyl |
| | | Thomas Gordon Hake (1809–94) |
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| A MAID who mindful of her playful time | |
| Steps to her summer, bearing childhood on | |
| To woman’s beauty, heedless of her prime: | |
| The early day but not the pastime gone: | |
| She is the Sibyl, uttering a doom | 5 |
| Out of her spotless bloom. | |
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| She is the Sibyl; seek not, then, her voice;— | |
| A laugh, a song, a sorrow, but thy share, | |
| With woes at hand for many who rejoice | |
| That she shall utter; that shall many hear; | 10 |
| That warn all hearts who seek of her their fates, | |
| Her love but one awaits. | |
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| She is the Sibyl; days that distant lie | |
| Bend to the promise that her word shall give; | |
| Already has she eyes that prophesy, | 15 |
| For of her beauty shall all beauty live: | |
| Unknown to her, in her slow opening bloom, | |
| She turns the leaves of doom. | |
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