| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1459. Solitude |
| | | By Frederick Peterson |
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| IT is the bittern’s solemn cry | |
| Far out upon the lonely moors, | |
| Where steel-gray pools reflect the sky, | |
| And mists arise in dim contours. | |
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| Save this, no murmur on their verge | 5 |
| Doth stir the stillness of the reeds; | |
| Silent the water-snakes emerge | |
| From writhing depths of water-weeds. | |
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| Through sedge or gorse of that morass | |
| There shines no light of moon or star; | 10 |
| Only the fen-fires gleam and pass | |
| Along the low horizon bar. | |
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| It is the bittern’s solemn cry, | |
| AS if it voiced, with mournful stress | |
| The strange hereditary sigh | 15 |
| Of age on age of loneliness. | |
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