| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | On the Sonnet | | By Edith Matilda Thomas (1854–1925) |
| | | GRANT me twice seven splendid words, O Muse | |
| (Like jewel pauses on a rosary chain, | |
| To tell us where the aves start again); | |
| Of these, in each verse, one I mean to use— | |
| Like Theseus in the labyrinth—for clues | 5 |
| To help lost Fancy striving in the brain; | |
| And, Muse, if thou wilt still so kindly deign, | |
| Make my rhymes move by courtly twos and twos! | |
| Oh, pardon, shades of Avon and Vaucluse, | |
| This rush-light burning where your lamps yet shine! | 10 |
| A sonnet should be like the cygnet’s cruise | |
| On polished waters; or like smooth old wine, | |
| Or earliest honey garnered in May dews! | |
| And all be laid before some fair love’s shrine! | | | | |
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