| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 988. The Singer of One Song |
| | | By Henry Augustin Beers |
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| HE sang one song and died—no more but that: | |
| A single song and carelessly complete. | |
| He would not bind and thresh his chance-grown wheat, | |
| Nor bring his wild fruit to the common vat, | |
| To store the acid rinsings, thin and flat, | 5 |
| Squeezed from the press or trodden under feet. | |
| A few slow beads, blood-red and honey-sweet, | |
| Oozed from the grape, which burst and spilled its fat. | |
| But Time, who soonest drops the heaviest things | |
| That weight his pack, will carry diamonds long. | 10 |
| So through the poets’ orchestra, which weaves | |
| One music from a thousand stops and strings, | |
| Pierces the note of that immortal song: | |
| “High over all the lonely bugle grieves.” | |
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