| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1070. The Voice of the Void |
| | | By George Parsons Lathrop |
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| I WARN, like the one drop of rain | |
| On your face, ere the storm; | |
| Or tremble in whispered refrain | |
| With your blood, beating warm. | |
| I am the presence that ever | 5 |
| Baffles your touch’s endeavor,— | |
| Gone like the glimmer of dust | |
| Dispersed by a gust. | |
| I am the absence that taunts you, | |
| The fancy that haunts you; | 10 |
| The ever unsatisfied guess | |
| That, questioning emptiness, | |
| Wins a sigh for reply. | |
| Nay, nothing am I, | |
| But the flight of a breath— | 15 |
| For I am Death! | |
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