Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.
II. The DaughterMrs. Sarah Josepha Hale (17881879)
The Empire of Woman—A Series of Sonnets
T
A father can, like school-boy tasks, throw by,
When gazing in his daughter’s loving eye,
Her soft arms, like a spell, around him thrown:
And passions that, like Upas-leaves, have grown
Most deadly in dark places, which defy
Earth, Heaven, and human will, even these were shown
All powerless to resist the pleading cry
Which pierced a savage but a father’s ear,
And shook a soul where pity’s pulse seemed dead,
When Pocahontas, heeding not the fear
That daunted boldest warriors, laid her head
Beside the doomed! Now with our country’s fame,
Sweet forest daughter! we have blent thy name.