| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. “O friend! whose genial spirit” | | By George Lunt (1803–1885) |
| | | O FRIEND! whose genial spirit, by the gift | |
| Of a most bounteous nature, flings a shower | |
| Of magic light along life’s shadowed hour; | |
| As when day’s sovereign lord, behind the rift | |
| Of summer’s brooding cloud, but looks, to lift | 5 |
| Incumbent heaviness from earth and sky, | |
| With the bright beam of his exulting eye; | |
| Think not the spirit’s course, whose silent drift | |
| Flows on more calmly than the sparkling stream, | |
| Is sad though thoughtful, or must therefore seem | 10 |
| From secret care, to need some healing shrift; | |
| Thine be, forever fresh and never coy, | |
| The soul’s bright mood;—yet not less cheerful deem | |
| The steadfast lustre of a sober joy! | | | | |
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