Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Largess
By Anne Charlotte Lynch Botta (18151891)[Born in Bennington, Vt. Died in New York, N. Y., 1891. Poems. 1881.]
G
A mendicant, that with imploring eye
And outstretched hand asks of the passers-by
The alms his strong necessities may move.
For such poor love to pity near allied,
Thy generous spirit should not stoop and wait,
A suppliant, whose prayer may be denied.
Like a spurned beggar’s at a palace gate:
But thy heart’s affluence lavish uncontrolled;
The largess of thy love give full and free,
As monarchs in their progress scatter gold;
And be thy heart like the exhaustless sea,
That must its wealth of cloud and dew bestow,
Though tributary streams or ebb or flow.