| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1061. Perdita |
| | | (On Seeing Miss Anderson in the Rôle) |
| | | By Florence Earle Coates |
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| SHE dances, | |
| And I seem to be | |
| In primrose vales of Sicily, | |
| Beside the streams once looked upon | |
| By Thyrsis and by Corydon: | 5 |
| The sunlight laughs as she advances, | |
| Shyly the zephyrs kiss her hair, | |
| And she seems to me as the wood-fawn, free, | |
| And as the wild rose, fair. | |
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| Dance, Perdita! and, shepherds, blow! | 10 |
| Your reeds restrain no longer! | |
| Till weald and welkin gleeful ring, | |
| Blow, shepherds, blow! and, lasses, sing | |
| Yet sweeter strains and stronger! | |
| Let far Helorus softer flow | 15 |
| ’Twixt rushy banks, that he may hear; | |
| Let Pan, great Pan himself, draw near! | |
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| Stately | |
| She moves, half smiling, | |
| With girlish look beguiling,— | 20 |
| A dawn-like grace in all her face; | |
| Stately she moves, sedately, | |
| Through the crowd circling round her; | |
| But—swift as light— | |
| See! she takes flight! | 25 |
| Empty, alas! is her place. | |
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| Follow her, follow her, let her not go! | |
| Mirth ended so— | |
| Why, ’t is but woe! | |
| Follow her, follow her! Perdita!—lo, | 30 |
| Love hath with wreaths enwound her! | |
| She dances, | |
| And I seem to see | |
| The nymph divine, Terpsichore, | |
| As when her beauty dazzling shone | 35 |
| On eerie heights of Helicon. | |
| With bursts of song her voice entrances | |
| The dreamy, blossom-scented air, | |
| And she seems to me as the wood-fawn, free, | |
| And as the wild rose, fair. | 40 |
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