| Alfred H. Miles, ed. Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | Miscellaneous Sonnets.
VIII. Work and Contemplation | | By Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) |
| | | THE WOMAN singeth at her spinning-wheel | |
| A pleasant chant, ballad or barcarole; | |
| She thinketh of her song, upon the whole, | |
| Far more than of her flax; and yet the reel | |
| Is full, and artfully her fingers feel | 5 |
| With quick adjustment, provident control, | |
| The lines, too subtly twisted to unroll, | |
| Out to a perfect thread. I hence appeal | |
| To the dear Christian church—that we may do | |
| Our Father’s business in these temples mirk, | 10 |
| Thus swift and steadfast, thus intent and strong; | |
| While thus, apart from toil, our souls pursue | |
| Some high, calm, spheric tune, and prove our work | |
| The better for the sweetness of our song. | | | | |
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