 | The Uncollected Poems of Henry Timrod |  |
SONNET
LADY! I WILL NOT WRONG THY WOMANHOOD
Lady! I will not wrong thy womanhood,By crowning thee with praise which is not thine—
I see thee lovely, and I think thee good,
But yet no angel, and not all divine.
For on thy brow, and o'er thy beauteous face—
As manifest in sorrow as in mirth—
There is a most bewitching look of earth,
And all the dearer for the mortal grace.
Aye! thou are earthly, and so tender-meek,
That I might deem much love doth make thee weak—
Did not at times, in some excited hour,
A flash that lights the darkness of thine eyes,
Reveal a secret and a deeper power—
A spirit he has hardihood who tries.
| The Uncollected Poems of Henry Timrod | |