| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | X. “Spirits there are inwrought with vilest clay” | | By Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830–1886) |
| | | SPIRITS there are inwrought with vilest clay, | |
| Which bear no God-like stamp of heavenly art, | |
| Whose envious instincts writhe with bitter smart | |
| Whene’er they feel some worthier nature’s sway. | |
| Ah! who so basely-born, so curst as they!— | 5 |
| Poor reptiles!—whose envenomed passions dart | |
| Back to transfix their own corrupted heart, | |
| And speed the progress of the soul’s decay. | |
| We pity such, yet loathe them. Who can keep | |
| His honest scorn unspoken, should he see | 10 |
| These human vipers strive their fangs to steep | |
| In the soul-blood of fame’s Nobility? | |
| Who but is glad when the swift lightnings leap | |
| Of withering wrath, to blast them utterly? | | | | |
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