Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By RichardHovey

1534 Envoy

WHOSE furthest footstep never strayed

Beyond the village of his birth

Is but a lodger for the night

In this old wayside inn of earth.

To-morrow he shall take his pack,

And set out for the ways beyond

On the old trail from star to star,

An alien and a vagabond.

If any record of our names

Be blown about the hills of time,

Let no one sunder us in death,—

The man of paint, the men of rhyme,

Of all our good, of all our bad,

This one thing only is of worth,—

We held the league of heart to heart

The only purpose of the earth.