| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 613. Evanescence |
| | | By Harriet Prescott Spofford |
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| WHAT ’S the brightness of a brow? | |
| What ’s a mouth of pearls and corals? | |
| Beauty vanishes like a vapor, | |
| Preach the men of musty morals! | |
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| Should the crowd then, ages since, | 5 |
| Have shut their ears to singing Homer, | |
| Because the music fled as soon | |
| As fleets the violets’ aroma? | |
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| Ah, for me, I thrill to see | |
| The bloom a velvet cheek discloses, | 10 |
| Made of dust—I well believe it! | |
| So are lilies, so are roses! | |
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