| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 557. Embryo |
| | | By Mary Ashley Townsend |
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| I FEEL a poem in my heart to-night, | |
| A still thing growing,— | |
| As if the darkness to the outer light | |
| A song were owing: | |
| A something strangely vague, and sweet, and sad, | 5 |
| Fair, fragile, slender; | |
| Not tearful, yet not daring to be glad, | |
| And oh, so tender! | |
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| It may not reach the outer world at all, | |
| Despite its growing; | 10 |
| Upon a poem-bud such cold winds fall | |
| To blight its blowing. | |
| But, oh, whatever may the thing betide, | |
| Free life or fetter, | |
| My heart, just to have held it till it died, | 15 |
| Will be the better! | |
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