Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.

Sonnets to Winter. III. Old Books to Read

John R. Thompson (1823–1873)

REACH from their dusty places of repose

A Virgil’s lay or “Livy’s pictured page,”

The varied lore of an Augustan age,—

What visions panoramic they disclose!

With o’er-attentive faculties we hear

The wandering minstrelsy of Scio’s bard,—

Poor houseless tenant of a life ill-starred,—

Or catch the minster-music of the seer

Chanting of Paradise “and all our woe.”

Then, with the Christian pilgrim for our guide,

We safely pass the dark and bridgeless tide

To Beulah’s land, where flowerets ever blow,

Of Shakespeare’s heroes trace the storied line,

Or weigh the mercies of the Book divine!