| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | Recompense | | By William Sinclair Lord (1863–1925) |
| | | AS some great tree that deeper, day by day, | |
| Takes root into the earth—some hardy oak | |
| That firmer stands for every tempest stroke, | |
| And grapples with huge rocks which bar its way— | |
| Doth push abroad, into the winds that sway, | 5 |
| New branches and new buds, which suns provoke | |
| To leaves of living green, until they cloak | |
| Its trunk in beauty, and new strength display, | |
| So does the human soul, when torn with grief, | |
| Grow stronger for the trial and the pain, | 10 |
| Reach out for truths that know not time nor change, | |
| And hold them fast until they bring relief, | |
| While hope and gladness blossom out again | |
| In beauty new and wonderful and strange. | | | | |
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