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
Annie in the Graveyard
By Caroline Howard Gilman (1794–1888)S
With a buoyant step of mirth;
She bounded o’er the graves,
Where the weeping willow waves,
Like a creature not of earth.
And her eyes were glittering bright;
Her hair was blown aside,
And her little hands spread wide,
With an innocent delight.
That registers the dead;
She spelt the lettered word,
And her busy thoughts were stirred
With pleasure as she read.
Left fluttering on a rose;
She stopped and culled a leaf,
Sweet monument of grief,
That in our church-yard grows.
’Twas near her sister’s mound:
She culled it with a smile,
And played with it awhile,
Then scattered it around.
Nor turn its gush to tears;
I did not chill her heart—
Oh, bitter drops will start
Full soon in coming years.