| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1278. Walt Whitman |
| | | By Harrison Smith Morris |
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| HE was in love with Truth and knew her near— | |
| Her comrade, not her suppliant on the knee: | |
| She gave him wild melodious words to be | |
| Made music that should haunt the atmosphere. | |
| She drew him to her bosom, day-long dear, | 5 |
| And pointed to the stars and to the sea, | |
| And taught him miracles and mystery, | |
| And made him master of the rounded year. | |
| Yet one gift did she keep. He looked in vain, | |
| Brow-shaded, through the darkness of the mist, | 10 |
| Marking a beauty like a wandering breath | |
| That beckoned, yet denied his soul a tryst: | |
| He sang a passion, yet he saw not plain | |
| Till kind earth held him and he spake with death. | |
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