Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Josephine PrestonPeabody

1666 Sonnet in a Garden

DUMB Mother of all music, let me rest

On thy great heart while summer days pass by;

While all the heat up-quivers, let me lie

Close gathered to the fragrance of thy breast.

Let not the pipe of birds from some high nest

Give voice unto a thought of melody,

Nor dreaming clouds afloat along the sky

Meet any wind of promise from the west.

Save for that grassy breath that never mars

The peace, but seems a musing of thine own,

Keep thy dear silence. So, embraced, alone,

Forgetful of relentless prison-bars,

My soul shall hear all songs, unsung, unknown,

Uprising with the breath of all the stars.