| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | Experience | | By Alice Marland (Wellington) Rollins (1847–1897) |
| | | A CHILD laid in the grave ere it had known | |
| Earth held delight beyond its mother’s kiss;— | |
| A fair girl passing from a world like this | |
| Into God’s vast eternity, alone;— | |
| A brave man’s soul in one brief instant thrown | 5 |
| To deepest agony from highest bliss;— | |
| A woman steeling her young heart to miss | |
| All joys in life, one dear one having flown;— | |
| These have I seen; yet happier these, I said, | |
| Than one who, by experience made strong, | 10 |
| Learning to live without the precious dead, | |
| Survive despair, outlive remorse and wrong, | |
| Can say when new grief comes, with unbowed head, | |
| “Let me not mourn! I shall forget ere long!” | | | | |
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