| Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Little Book of Modern Verse. 1917. |
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| 63. “When I Am Dead and Sister to the Dust” |
| | | By Elsa Barker |
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| WHEN I am dead and sister to the dust; | |
| When no more avidly I drink the wine | |
| Of human love; when the pale Proserpine | |
| Has covered me with poppies, and cold rust | |
| Has cut my lyre-strings, and the sun has thrust | 5 |
| Me underground to nourish the world-vine,— | |
| Men shall discover these old songs of mine, | |
| And say: This woman lived—as poets must! | |
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| This woman lived and wore life as a sword | |
| To conquer wisdom; this dead woman read | 10 |
| In the sealed Book of Love and underscored | |
| The meanings. Then the sails of faith she spread, | |
| And faring out for regions unexplored, | |
| Went singing down the River of the Dead. | |
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