| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | II. The Daughter | | By 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 | 5 |
| 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, | 10 |
| 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. | | | | |
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