| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | V. Poets of the Olden Time | | By Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830–1886) |
| | | THE BRAVE old poets sing of nobler themes | |
| Than the weak griefs that haunt our coward souls; | |
| The torrent of their lusty music rolls, | |
| Not through dark valleys of distempered dreams, | |
| But murmurous pastures, lit by sunny streams; | 5 |
| Or, rushing from some mountain-height of thought, | |
| Swells to strange meaning that our minds have sought | |
| Vainly to gather from the doubtful gleams | |
| Of our more gross perceptions. O, their strains | |
| Nerve and ennoble manhood!—no shrill cry, | 10 |
| Set to a treble, tells of querulous woe;— | |
| Yet numbers deep-voiced as the mighty main’s | |
| Merge in the ring-dove’s plaining, or the sigh | |
| Of lovers whispering where sweet streamlets flow! | | | | |
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