| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 127. A Health |
| | | By Edward Coate Pinkney |
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| I FILL this cup to one made up | |
| Of loveliness alone, | |
| A woman, of her gentle sex | |
| The seeming paragon; | |
| To whom the better elements | 5 |
| And kindly stars have given | |
| A form so fair, that, like the air, | |
| ’T is less of earth than heaven. | |
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| Her every tone is music’s own, | |
| Like those of morning birds, | 10 |
| And something more than melody | |
| Dwells ever in her words; | |
| The coinage of her heart are they, | |
| And from her lips each flows | |
| As one may see the burdened bee | 15 |
| Forth issue from the rose. | |
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| Affections are as thoughts to her, | |
| The measures of her hours; | |
| Her feelings have the fragrancy, | |
| The freshness of young flowers; | 20 |
| And lovely passions, changing oft, | |
| So fill her, she appears | |
| The image of themselves by turns,— | |
| The idol of past years! | |
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| Of her bright face one glance will trace | 25 |
| A picture on the brain, | |
| And of her voice in echoing hearts | |
| A sound must long remain; | |
| But memory, such as mine of her, | |
| So very much endears, | 30 |
| When death is nigh my latest sigh | |
| Will not be life’s, but hers. | |
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| I fill this cup to one made up | |
| Of loveliness alone, | |
| A woman, of her gentle sex | 35 |
| The seeming paragon— | |
| Her health! and would on earth there stood | |
| Some more of such a frame, | |
| That life might be all poetry, | |
| And weariness a name. | 40 |
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