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The poetical writings of Elizabeth Oakes Smith

Second edition
Smith, Elizabeth Oakes Prince (1806-1893)

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THE SINLESS CHILD.
  
INSCRIPTION.
 1. 
PART I.
 2. 
PART II.
 3. 
PART III.
 4. 
PART IV.
 5. 
PART V.
 6. 
PART VI.
 7. 
PART VII.
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SONNETS.
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THE POET'S LIFE, IN SIX SONNETS.
 1. 
I. POESY.
 2. 
II. THE BARD.
 3. 
III. THE UNATTAINED.
 4. 
IV. RELIGION.
 5. 
V. A DREAM.
 6. 
VI. AN INCIDENT.
 7. 
VII. ERROR.
 8. 
VIII. MENTAL SOLITUDE.
 9. 
IX. DISTRUST.
 10. 
X. ILLUSTRATION OF A CAMEO:
 11. 
XI. THE RUSTIC.
 12. 
XII. THE RUSTIC.
 13. 
XIII. WAYFARERS.
 14. 
XIV. TWILIGHT
 15. 
XV. TO THE OPAL.
 16. 
XVI. DUTY.
 17. 
XVII. THE PILGRIM.
 18. 
XVIII. SYMPATHY.
 16. 
XIX. SYMPATHY.
 20. 
XX. SELF RENUNCIATION.
 21. 
XXI. TO THE HUDSON.
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LIFE.
 22. 
XXII. CHILDHOOD.
 23. 
XXIII. YOUTH.
 24. 
XXIV. MANHOOD.
 25. 
XXV. OLD AGE.
 26. 
XXVI. LIFE-LONG MARTYRDOM.
 27. 
XXVII. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
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ATHEISM,
 28. 
XXVIII. FAITH.
 29. 
XXIX. REASON.
 30. 
XXX. ANNIHILATION
  
THE ACORN.
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MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
  
THE APRIL RAIN.
  
THE WATER.
  
THE PARK FOUNTAIN.
  
THE LAST SHOT.
  
“THOU HAST LOVED.”
  
PRESAGES.
  
THE LOVE OF LADY ANN.
  
CHILDHOOD'S LAUGH.
  
THE CHILD AND THE ROSE.
  
TO A BABE.
  
THE CHILD'S BENEDICTION.
  
LOVE SHELTERED.
  
THE GUARDIAN ANGEL.
  
THE FIRST LEAF OF AUTUMN.
  
MINISTERING SPIRITS.
  
FAREWELL TO FANCY.
  
THE ELEVENTH HOUR.
  
THE APPEAL.
  
THE JEWISH CAPTIVE.
  
SONG. I.
  
SONG. II.
  
SONG. III.
  
THE BROOK.
  
THE SLEEP OF PLANTS.
  
THE FLOWER OF INNOCENCE,
  
THE OLD MAN.
  
THE DROWNED MARINER.
  
THE SUMMONS ANSWERED.
  
THE TWICE-TOLD SEAL.
  
THE VOICE OF THE AGE.

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120

XXVI.
LIFE-LONG MARTYRDOM.

“Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul?”—

Job.

God shield us in our weakness! I had said
To meet the fagot or the blade—to die
For that accounted holy, for the truth,
Were but a festal doom—a tribute paid
By the poor outward form, that it may lie
A slave, and not a master of the soul.
But, harder far to bear a life-long test;
To feel the weight of wrong in spring-time youth,
Crushed heavier down as lagging winters roll;
Benumbing thought and feeling in the breast,
While selfishness and callous discontent
Blight all the aspect of God's blessed earth,
And tear from out our soul, that which He lent,
Its freshness, homage, freedomness of birth.
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