| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | Trailing Arbutus | | By Albert Laighton (1829–1887) |
| | | DEAR, lovely flower, whose fragrant lips unclose | |
| To breathe a benediction to the Spring, | |
| Soon as the bluebird and the robin sing; | |
| Sweetest and best that in the woodland grows; | |
| Flushed like the morn, or white as drifted snows; | 5 |
| I love thee as a herald of the hours | |
| That bring the beauteous train of forest flowers, | |
| And all fair things God’s loving hand bestows. | |
| But most for her sweet sake who held thee dear; | |
| Who, in glad Springs, roamed with me hand in hand | 10 |
| These mossy paths where now alone I stray; | |
| And yet whose gentle presence seems so near, | |
| I half forget her angel feet to-day | |
| Walk the green pastures of the better land. | | | | |
|
|
