| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | Clytie | | By William Wetmore Story (1819–1895) |
| | | SWEET Clytie! maiden most serene and fair! | |
| Thy marble life of silent loveliness | |
| Time from its cold and withering touch shall spare, | |
| And ageless youth, eternal beauty, bless. | |
| Thy lowly drooping head, that seems to wear | 5 |
| The melancholy grace of pensiveness, | |
| Thy mournful eyes, thy trembling lips, confess | |
| The soul which love and grief together share. | |
| O’er the full ripeness of maturity, | |
| The past and future, pausing, seem to brood,— | 10 |
| Autumn and noon, in their high jubilee, | |
| To serious stillness ever are subdued; | |
| And so a pensive shadow rests on thee, | |
| Fair, sweet, consummate flower of maidenhood! | | | | |
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