| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | Acrostic Sonnet: Emilie Marshall | | By James Gates Percival (1795–1856) |
| | | EARTH holds no fairer, lovelier one than thou, | |
| Maid of the laughing lip and frolic eye! | |
| Innocence sits upon thy open brow | |
| Like a pure spirit in its native sky. | |
| If ever beauty stole the heart away, | 5 |
| Enchantress, it would fly to meet thy smile; | |
| Moments would seem by thee a summer day, | |
| And all around thee an Elysian isle. | |
| Roses are nothing to the maiden blush | |
| Sent o’er thy cheeks’ soft ivory, and night | 10 |
| Has naught so dazzling in its world of light, | |
| As the dark rays that from thy lashes gush. | |
| Love lurks amid thy silken curls, and lies | |
| Like a keen archer in thy kindling eyes. | | | | |
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