Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.
I. Confidence in HeavenMrs. Emma Catharine Embury (18061863)
I
With that which doth consume it;—there is born
A strength from suffering which can laugh to scorn
The stroke of sorrow, even though it rives
Our very heart-strings; but the grief that lives
Forever in the heart, and, day by day,
Wastes the soul’s high-wrought energies away,
And wears the lofty spirit down, and gives
Its own dark hue to life, O who can bear?
Yet, as the black and threatening tempests bring
New fragrance to earth’s flowers, and tints more fair,
So beneath sorrow’s nurture virtues spring.
Youth, health, and hope may fade, but there is left
A soul that trusts in Heaven, though thus of all bereft.