| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | “They said” | | By Lucy Larcom (1824–1893) |
| | | THEY said of her, “What deeper natures feel | |
| Her calm existence never can have felt;” | |
| They said, “Her placid lips have never spelt | |
| Hard lessons taught by Pain; her eyes reveal | |
| No passionate yearning, no perplexed appeal | 5 |
| To other eyes. Life and her heart have dealt | |
| With her but lightly.”—When the Pilgrims dwelt | |
| First on these shores, lest savage hands should steal | |
| To precious graves with desecrating tread, | |
| The burial-field was with the ploughshare crossed, | 10 |
| And there the maize her silken tresses tossed. | |
| With thanks those Pilgrims ate their bitter bread, | |
| While peaceful harvests hid what they had lost. | |
| What if her smiles concealed from you her dead? | | | | |
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