| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | IV. Encouragement | | By Mrs. Elizabeth Clementine Kinney (1810–1889) |
| | | WHEN first peeps out from earth the modest vine, | |
| Asking but little space to live and grow, | |
| How easily some step, without design, | |
| May crush the being from a thing so low! | |
| But let the hand that doth delight to show | 5 |
| Support to feebleness the tendril twine | |
| Around some lattice-work, and ’t will bestow | |
| Its thanks in fragrance, and with blossoms shine. | |
| And thus, when Genius first puts forth its shoot,— | |
| So timid that it scarce dare ask to live,— | 10 |
| The tender germ, if trodden under foot, | |
| Shrinks back again to its undying root; | |
| While kindly training bids it upward strive, | |
| And to the future flowers immortal give. | | | | |
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