| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | III. Poesy | | By Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith (1806–1893) |
| | | WITH no fond, sickly thirst for fame I kneel, | |
| O goddess of the high-born art, to thee; | |
| Not unto thee with semblance of a zeal | |
| I come, O pure and heaven-eyed Poesy! | |
| Thou art to me a spirit and a love, | 5 |
| Felt ever from the time when first the earth | |
| In its green beauty, and the sky above, | |
| Informed my soul with joy too deep for mirth. | |
| I was a child of thine before my tongue | |
| Could lisp its infant utterance unto thee; | 10 |
| And now, albeit from my harp are flung | |
| Discordant numbers, and the song may be | |
| That which I would not, yet I know that thou | |
| The offering wilt not spurn, while thus to thee I bow. | | | | |
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