| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. Expressionless | | By Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith (1806–1893) |
| | | THE THOUGHTS which in this aching bosom dwell, | |
| And weigh it with a sad, desponding weight,— | |
| Like ship unbuoyant with her heavy freight, | |
| Whose ploughing hull retards the pressing swell | |
| Of homeward-urging sail,—within their cell, | 5 |
| Nameless and wordless, struggle with their fate | |
| And yield but one deep plain,—too late! too late! | |
| Then falter into silence. It is well! | |
| Ah, could our lips embody all the grace | |
| And garnered beauty of the inmost soul, | 10 |
| Earth were no more a blank, impeding place, | |
| But, loosed from bonds perpetual, hymns would roll. | |
| Thou God! most good, in each our lips to bind;— | |
| For what were earth, did all our woe expression find! | | | | |
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