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Home  »  The Book of the Sonnet  »  Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale (1788–1879)

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

III. The Sister

Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale (1788–1879)

The Empire of Woman—A Series of Sonnets

WILD as a colt, o’er prairies bounding free,

The wakening spirit of the boy doth spring,

Spurning the rein Authority would fling,

And striving with his peers for mastery:

But in the household gathering let him see

His sister’s gentle smile, and it will bring

A change o’er all his nature; patiently,

As cagéd bird that never used its wing,

He turns him to the tasks that she doth share;

His better passions kindle by her side;

Visions of angel beauty haunt the air:

May she not summon such to be his guide?

Our Saviour listened to a sister’s prayer,

When “Lazarus, from the tomb come forth!” he cried.