| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | Sonnet to Duty | | By Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823–1911) |
| | | LIGHT of dim mornings; shield from heat and cold; | |
| Balm for all ailments; substitute for praise; | |
| Comrade of those who plod in lonely ways | |
| (Ways that grow lonelier as the years wax old); | |
| Tonic for fears; check to the overbold; | 5 |
| Nurse, whose calm hand its strong restriction lays, | |
| Kind but resistless, on our wayward days; | |
| Mart, where high wisdom at vast price is sold; | |
| Gardener, whose touch bids the rose-petals fall, | |
| The thorns endure; surgeon, who human hearts | 10 |
| Searchest with probes, though the death touch be given; | |
| Spell that knits friends, but yearning lovers parts; | |
| Tyrant relentless o’er our blisses all;— | |
| Oh, can it be, thine other name is Heaven? | | | | |
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