| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 941. In the Dark |
| | | By Mary Thacher Higginson |
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| THE FIELDS were silent, and the woodland drear, | |
| The moon had set, and clouds hid all the stars; | |
| And blindly, when a footfall met my ear, | |
| I reached across the bars. | |
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| And swift as thought this hand was clasped in thine, | 5 |
| Though darkness hung around us and above; | |
| Not guided by uncertain fate to mine, | |
| But by the law of love. | |
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| I know not which of us may first go hence | |
| And leave the other to be brave alone, | 10 |
| Unable to dispel the shadows dense | |
| That veil the life unknown; | |
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| But if I linger last, and stretch once more | |
| A longing hand when fades this earthly day, | |
| Again it will be grasped by thine, before | 15 |
| My steps can lose the way. | |
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