Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891.
On Millets Picture of Two Women Sewing by LamplightLilla (Cabot) Perry
Y
And loose your unaccustomed tongues, and tell
What thoughts within your brooding memories dwell,
Whence the sad patience on your lips that lies,
Speaking of constant toil and mysteries
Of simple nature ye alone know well,
Whose days flow on with the monotonous swell
Of laboring ocean ’neath dark, quiet skies.
As this one lamp with its untiring beams
Weaves for the homely room a crown of light,
And o’er its poverty soft beauty flings?
Do little flaxen heads, deep sunk in dreams
Behind the curtains there, make sweet the night?