| Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | Lyrics.
II. Beloved | | By Michael Field (Katherine Harris Bradley) (1846–1914) |
| | | MORTAL, if thou art beloved | |
| Life’s offences are removed; | |
| All the fateful things that checked thee, | |
| Hearten, hallow, and protect thee. | |
| Grow’st thou mellow? What is age? | 5 |
| Tinct on life’s illumined page, | |
| Where the purple letters glow | |
| Deeper, painted long ago. | |
| What is sorrow? Comfort’s prime, | |
| Love’s choice Indian summer clime. | 10 |
| Sickness!—thou wilt pray it worse | |
| For so blessed, balmy nurse. | |
| And for death! when thou art dying | |
| ’Twill be Love beside thee lying. | |
| Death is lonesome? Oh, how brave | 15 |
| Shows the foot-frequented grave! | |
| Heaven itself is but the casket | |
| For Love’s treasure, ere he ask it,— | |
| Ere with burning heart he follow, | |
| Piercing through corruption’s hollow. | 20 |
| If thou art beloved, oh then | |
| Fear no grief from mortal men, | | | | |
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