Contents -Volume INDEX -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889

The Stirrup-Cup

By John Hay (1838–1905)

MY short and happy day is done;

The long and lonely night comes on,

And at my door the pale horse stands

To carry me to unknown lands.

His whinny shrill, his pawing hoof,

Sound dreadful as a gathering storm;

And I must leave this sheltering roof

And joys of life so soft and warm.

Tender and warm the joys of life—

Good friends, the faithful and the true;

My rosy children and my wife,

So sweet to kiss, so fair to view.

So sweet to kiss, so fair to view:

The night comes on, the lights burn blue;

And at my door the pale horse stands

To bear me forth to unknown lands.