Harriet
If thou wert dear in sunny days gone by,
When hand in hand we trod Life’s Eden-bowers,
And, happy, laughed away the rosy hours—
If thou wert dearer when, confidingly,
Thou stood’st with me, and plighted thy young faith,
Vowing to love, unchangeably, till death—
Now, as I gaze into thy gentle eye,
Radiant with love, serene in hope and trust,
My spirit owns thee dearest, and I must
Yield my whole heart in wild idolatry
To thee, my earthly idol! If I sin,
Still will I fondly hope to be forgiven,
For, though an earthly temple shrined within,
Bright one! in thee I worship less of earth than heaven!
- Title
- Harriet
- First Line
- If thou wert dear in sunny days gone by,
- Creator
-
William Henry Burleigh
- Bibliographic Citation
- Burleigh, William Henry, Poems. Philadelphia: J. Miller M'Kim; Pittsburgh: Ingram and M'Candless; New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1841, 239.
- Date
- between 1835-1841
- Period
- Early
- Comments
-
Epigram
“My love is not that silvery mist
From summer blooms by sunbeams kissed.”
From Thomas Charlton Smith's "To ---" in Bay Leaves, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable, 1824, p. 28-32 - Bay Leaves, by T.C. Smith
- Sonnet form
- Related Resource
- Harriet was the name of William H. Burleigh's first wife
-
Harriet Adelia Frink Burleigh
-
H.A.B.
- Rating
- ★★★
- Type
- Sonnet

