| Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | Poems.
II. Expostulation | | By Frances Anne Kemble (1809–1893) |
| | | WHAT though the sun must set, and darkness come, | |
| Shall we turn coldly from the blessèd light, | |
| And o’er the heavens call an earlier gloom, | |
| Because the longest day must end in night? | |
| What though the golden summer flies so fast, | 5 |
| Shall we neglect the rosy wreaths she brings, | |
| Because their blooming sweetness may not last, | |
| And winter comes apace with snowy wings? | |
| What though this world be but the journeying land | |
| Where those who love but meet to part again; | 10 |
| Where, as we clasp in welcome friendship’s hand, | |
| That greeting clasp becomes a parting strain: | |
| ’Tis better to be blest for one short hour, | |
| Than never know delight of love or joy, | |
| Friendship, or mirth, or happiness, or power, | 15 |
| And all that Time creates, and must destroy. | | | | |
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