| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | “Enamored architect of airy rhyme” | | By Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) |
| | | ENAMORED architect of airy rhyme, | |
| Build as thou wilt; heed not what each man says. | |
| Good souls, but innocent of dreamers’ ways, | |
| Will come, and marvel why thou wastest time; | |
| Others, beholding how thy turrets climb | 5 |
| ’Twixt theirs and heaven, will hate thee all their days: | |
| But most beware of those who come to praise. | |
| O Wondersmith, O worker in sublime | |
| And heaven-sent dreams, let art be all in all; | |
| Build as thou wilt, unspoiled by praise or blame, | 10 |
| Build as thou wilt, and as thy light is given: | |
| Then, if at last the airy structure fall, | |
| Dissolve, and vanish—take thyself no shame. | |
| They fail, and they alone, who have not striven. | | | | |
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