Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.

By Selected Sonnets. IV. The Well-Head

Richard Wilton (1827–1903)

I TRACED a little brook to its well-head,

Where, amid quivering weeds, its waters leap

From the earth, and hurrying into shadow, creep

Unseen but vocal in their deep-worn bed.

Hawthorns and hazels interlacing wed

With roses sweet, and overhang the steep

Moss’d banks, while through the leaves stray sunbeams peep,

And on the whispering stream faint glimmerings shed.

Thus let my life flow on, through green fields gliding,

Unnoticed, not unuseful in its course,

Still fresh and fragrant, though in shadow hiding,

Holding its destined way with quiet force,

Cheered with the music of a peace abiding,

Drawn daily from its ever-springing source.