| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 704. Change |
| | | By William Dean Howells |
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| SOMETIMES, when after spirited debate | |
| Of letters or affairs, in thought I go | |
| Smiling unto myself, and all aglow | |
| With some immediate purpose, and elate | |
| As if my little, trivial scheme were great, | 5 |
| And what I would so were already so: | |
| Suddenly I think of her that died, and know, | |
| Whatever friendly or unfriendly fate | |
| Befall me in my hope or in my pride, | |
| It is all nothing but a mockery, | 10 |
| And nothing can be what it used to be, | |
| When I could bid my happy life abide, | |
| And build on earth for perpetuity, | |
| Then, in the deathless days before she died. | |
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