| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1475. The Succession |
| | | By Frances Laughton Mace |
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| AS one by one the singers of our land, | |
| Summoned away by Death’s unfailing dart, | |
| Unto the greater mystery depart, | |
| Sadly we watch them from the desolate strand, | |
| Oh! who shall fill their places in the band | 5 |
| Of tuneful voices? Who with equal art | |
| Speak the unwritten language of the heart, | |
| And the mute signs of Nature understand? | |
| Yet poetry from earth has never ceased: | |
| It is a fire perpetual, which has caught | 10 |
| Its flame from off the altar-place of Heaven. | |
| Never has failed, in darkest days, a priest | |
| Who, by no price of gain or glory bought, | |
| For his soul’s peace his life to song has given. | |
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