| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 965. When the Grass Shall Cover Me |
| | | By Ina Coolbrith |
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| WHEN the grass shall cover me, | |
| Head to foot where I am lying; | |
| When not any wind that blows, | |
| Summer blooms nor winter snows, | |
| Shall awake me to your sighing: | 5 |
| Close above me as you pass, | |
| You will say, “How kind she was,” | |
| You will say, “How true she was,” | |
| When the grass grows over me. | |
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| When the grass shall cover me, | 10 |
| Holden close to earth’s warm bosom,— | |
| While I laugh, or weep, or sing | |
| Nevermore, for anything, | |
| You will find in blade and blossom, | |
| Sweet small voices, odorous, | 15 |
| Tender pleaders in my cause, | |
| That shall speak me as I was— | |
| When the grass grows over me. | |
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| When the grass shall cover me! | |
| Ah, belovëd, in my sorrow | 20 |
| Very patient, I can wait, | |
| Knowing that, or soon or late, | |
| There will dawn a clearer morrow: | |
| When your heart will moan “Alas! | |
| Now I know how true she was; | 25 |
| Now I know how dear she was”— | |
| When the grass grows over me! | |
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