| Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | Selected Sonnets.
IV. The Well-Head | | By Richard Wilton (1827–1903) |
| | | I TRACED a little brook to its well-head, | |
| Where, amid quivering weeds, its waters leap | |
| From the earth, and hurrying into shadow, creep | |
| Unseen but vocal in their deep-worn bed. | |
| Hawthorns and hazels interlacing wed | 5 |
| With roses sweet, and overhang the steep | |
| Moss’d banks, while through the leaves stray sunbeams peep, | |
| And on the whispering stream faint glimmerings shed. | |
| Thus let my life flow on, through green fields gliding, | |
| Unnoticed, not unuseful in its course, | 10 |
| Still fresh and fragrant, though in shadow hiding, | |
| Holding its destined way with quiet force, | |
| Cheered with the music of a peace abiding, | |
| Drawn daily from its ever-springing source. | | | | |
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