| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1610. Ballade of Dead Friends |
| | | By Edwin Arlington Robinson |
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| AS we the withered ferns | |
| By the roadway lying, | |
| Time, the jester, spurns | |
| All our prayers and prying— | |
| All our tears and sighing, | 5 |
| Sorrow, change, and woe— | |
| All our where-and-whying | |
| For friends that come and go. | |
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| Life awakes and burns. | |
| Age and death defying, | 10 |
| Till at last it learns | |
| All but Love is dying; | |
| Love’s the trade we’re plying, | |
| God has willed it so; | |
| Shrouds are what we’re buying | 15 |
| For friends that come and go. | |
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| Man forever yearns | |
| For the thing that ’s flying. | |
| Everywhere he turns, | |
| Men to dust are drying,— | 20 |
| Dust that wanders, eyeing | |
| (With eyes that hardly glow) | |
| New faces, dimly spying | |
| For friends that come and go. | |
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ENVOY
And thus we all are nighing | 25 |
| The truth we fear to know: | |
| Death will end our crying | |
| For friends that come and go. | |
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