Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale (1788–1879)

The Empire of Woman—A Series of Sonnets

THE IRON cares that press strong manhood down

A father can, like school-boy tasks, throw by,

When gazing in his daughter’s loving eye,

Her soft arms, like a spell, around him thrown:

And passions that, like Upas-leaves, have grown

Most deadly in dark places, which defy

Earth, Heaven, and human will, even these were shown

All powerless to resist the pleading cry

Which pierced a savage but a father’s ear,

And shook a soul where pity’s pulse seemed dead,

When Pocahontas, heeding not the fear

That daunted boldest warriors, laid her head

Beside the doomed! Now with our country’s fame,

Sweet forest daughter! we have blent thy name.