| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 958. Quatrains |
| | | By John Banister Tabb |
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THE BUBBLE
WHY should I stay? Nor seed nor fruit have I. | |
| But, sprung at once to beauty’s perfect round, | |
| Nor loss, nor gain, nor change in me is found,— | |
| A life—complete in death—complete to die. | |
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BECALMED
THE BAR is crossed; but Death—the pilot—stands | 5 |
| In seeming doubt before the tranquil deep; | |
| The fathom-line still trembling in his hands, | |
| As when upon the treacherous shoals of sleep. | |
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FAME
THEIR noonday never knows | |
| What names immortal are: | 10 |
| ’T is night alone that shows | |
| How star surpasseth star. | |
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