| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
| |
| 1154. Song, Youth, and Sorrow |
| | | By William Cranston Lawton |
| |
| |
| LOFTY against our Western dawn uprises Achilles: | |
| He among heroes alone singeth or toucheth the lyre. | |
| Few, and dimmed by grief, are the days that to him are appointed! | |
| Love he shall know but to lose, life but to cast it away. | |
| Dreaming of peace and a bride, he sees not the foes at the portal: | 5 |
| Paris, a traitor to love; Phœbus, accorder of song! | |
| |
| Freely he chose, do ye deem, and clave to the anguish and glory? | |
| Rather the Fates at his birth chose, yet he gladly assents. | |
| Is it a warning that death untimely and bitterest sorrow, | |
| Sorrow in love, and death, follow the children of song? | 10 |
| Yet will the young man’s heart still cling to the choice of Achilles— | |
| Grief, an untimely doom, fame that eternal abides. | |
| |
|
|
|
