| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. The Lilies of the Field | | By Mrs. Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1793–1835) |
| | | FLOWERS!—when the Saviour’s calm, benignant eye | |
| Fell on your gentle beauty,—when from you | |
| That heavenly lesson for all hearts he drew, | |
| Eternal, universal, as the sky,— | |
| Then, in the bosom of your purity, | 5 |
| A voice he set, as in a temple-shrine, | |
| That life’s quick travellers ne’er might pass you by | |
| Unwarned of that sweet oracle divine. | |
| And though too oft its low, celestial sound, | |
| By the harsh notes of work-day Care is drowned, | 10 |
| And the loud steps of vain unlistening Haste, | |
| Yet the great ocean hath no tone of power | |
| Mightier to reach the soul, in thought’s hushed hour, | |
| Than yours, ye Lilies! chosen thus and graced! | | | | |
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