Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891.
Acrostic Sonnet: Emilie MarshallJames Gates Percival (17951856)
E
Maid of the laughing lip and frolic eye!
Innocence sits upon thy open brow
Like a pure spirit in its native sky.
If ever beauty stole the heart away,
Enchantress, it would fly to meet thy smile;
Moments would seem by thee a summer day,
And all around thee an Elysian isle.
Roses are nothing to the maiden blush
Sent o’er thy cheeks’ soft ivory, and night
Has naught so dazzling in its world of light,
As the dark rays that from thy lashes gush.
Love lurks amid thy silken curls, and lies
Like a keen archer in thy kindling eyes.