| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. Confidence in Heaven | | By Mrs. Emma Catharine Embury (1806–1863) |
| | | IT is in vain the weary spirit strives | |
| With that which doth consume it;—there is born | |
| A strength from suffering which can laugh to scorn | |
| The stroke of sorrow, even though it rives | |
| Our very heart-strings; but the grief that lives | 5 |
| Forever in the heart, and, day by day, | |
| Wastes the soul’s high-wrought energies away, | |
| And wears the lofty spirit down, and gives | |
| Its own dark hue to life, O who can bear? | |
| Yet, as the black and threatening tempests bring | 10 |
| New fragrance to earth’s flowers, and tints more fair, | |
| So beneath sorrow’s nurture virtues spring. | |
| Youth, health, and hope may fade, but there is left | |
| A soul that trusts in Heaven, though thus of all bereft. | | | | |
|
|
