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

By Thomas BuchananRead

414 Lines to a Blind Girl

BLIND as the song of birds,

Feeling its way into the heart,

Or as a thought ere it hath words,—

As blind thou art:

Or as a little stream

A dainty hand might guide apart,

Or Love—young Love’s delicious dream—

As blind thou art:

Or as a slender bark,

Where summer’s varying breezes start,

Or blossoms blowing in the dark,—

As blind thou art:

Or as the Hope, Desire

Leads from the bosom’s crowded mart,

Deluded Hope, that soon must tire,—

As blind thou art:

The chrysalis, that folds

The wings that shall in light depart,

Is not more blind than that which holds

The wings within thy heart.

For when thy soul was given

Unto the earth, a beauteous trust,

To guard its matchless glory, Heaven

Endungeoned it in dust.