| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1543. Stone Walls |
| | | By Julie Mathilde Lippmann |
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| ALONG the country roadside, stone on stone, | |
| Past waving grain-field, and near broken stile, | |
| The walls stretch onward, an uneven pile, | |
| With rankling vines and lichen overgrown: | |
| So stand they sentinel. Unchanged, alone, | 5 |
| They ’re left to watch the seasons’ passing slow: | |
| The summer’s sunlight or the winter’s snow, | |
| The spring-time’s birdling, or the autumn’s moan. | |
| Who placed the stones now gray with many years? | |
| And did the rough hands tire, the sore hearts ache, | 10 |
| The eyes grow dim with all their weight of tears? | |
| Or did the work seem light for some dear sake? | |
| Those lives are over. All their hopes and fears | |
| Are lost like shadows in the morning-break. | |
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