Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume III. Sorrow and Consolation. 1904. | | | | IV. Comfort and Cheer | | The Saddest Fate | | Anonymous |
| | | TO touch a broken lute, | |
| To strike a jangled string, | |
| To strive with tones forever mute | |
| The dear old tunes to sing— | |
| What sadder fate could any heart befall? | 5 |
| Alas! dear child, never to sing at all. | |
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| To sigh for pleasures flown, | |
| To weep for withered flowers, | |
| To count the blessings we have known, | |
| Lost with the vanished hours— | 10 |
| What sadder fate could any heart befall? | |
| Alas! dear child, ne’er to have known them all. | |
| |
| To dream of love and rest, | |
| To know the dream has past, | |
| To bear within an aching breast | 15 |
| Only a void at last— | |
| What sadder fate could any heart befall? | |
| Alas! dear child, ne’er to have loved at all. | |
| |
| To trust an unknown good, | |
| To hope, but all in vain, | 20 |
| Over a far-off bliss to brood, | |
| Only to find it pain— | |
| What sadder fate could any soul befall? | |
| Alas! dear child, never to hope at all. | | | | |
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