| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 595. The Return |
| | | By Annie Fields |
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| THE BRIGHT sea washed beneath her feet, | |
| As it had done of yore, | |
| The well-remembered odor sweet | |
| Came through her opening door. | |
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| Again the grass his ripened head | 5 |
| Bowed where her raiment swept; | |
| Again the fog-bell told of dread, | |
| And all the landscape wept. | |
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| Again beside the woodland bars | |
| She found the wilding rose, | 10 |
| With petals fine and heart of stars,— | |
| The flower our childhood knows. | |
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| And there, before that blossom small, | |
| By its young face beguiled, | |
| The woman saw her burden fall, | 15 |
| And stood a little child. | |
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| She knew no more the weight of love, | |
| No more the weight of grief; | |
| So could the simple wild-rose move | |
| And bring her heart relief. | 20 |
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| She asked not where her love was gone, | |
| Nor where her grief was fled, | |
| But stood as at the great white throne, | |
| Unmindful of things dead. | |
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