| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1479. The Wayside Virgin |
| | | France |
| | | By Langdon Elwyn Mitchell (“John Philip Varley”) |
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| I AM the Virgin; from this granite ledge | |
| A hundred weary winters have I watched | |
| The lonely road that wanders at my feet; | |
| And many days I ’ve sat here, in my lap | |
| A little heap of snow, and overheard | 5 |
| The dry, dead voices of sere, rustling leaves; | |
| While scarce a beggar creaked across the way. | |
| How very old I am! I have forgot | |
| The day they fixed me here; and whence I came, | |
| With crown of gold, and all my tarnished blue. | 10 |
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| How green the grass is now, and all around | |
| Blossoms the May; but it is cold in here, | |
| Sunless and cold.—Now comes a little maid | |
| To kneel among the asters at my feet; | |
| What a sweet noise she makes, like murmurings | 15 |
| Of bees in June! I wonder what they say, | |
| These rosy mortals, when they look at me? | |
| I wonder why | |
| They call me Mary and bow down to me? | |
| Oh, I am weary of my painted box,— | 20 |
| Come, child, | |
| And lay thy warm face on my wooden cheek, | |
| That I may feel it glow as once of yore | |
| It glowed when I, a cedar’s happy heart, | |
| Felt the first sunshine of the early spring! | 25 |
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