A Sonnet

by Ella Rhoads Higginson 

 

 

WRITE a sonnet? But a sonnet, dear,
May be the breaking of an Easter morn;
Or a low wind among the ripening corn
When russet silk tops each green-golden ear;
A white, white flower laid upon a bier
By one whose love dwelt from the world apart;
Or a bee-ravished clover-blossom’s heart;
A glance met once; a voice so sweet and clear
Its memory lives thro’ all forgotten years;
A lonely nighthawk calling to the night;
The red flash of a star in downward flight;
The trampling thunder of a mighty sea;
Or a wild prayer shaken thro’ with tears . . .
Or this long kiss upon the lips of thee!

 

(published in When the Birds Go North Again, 1898)

 

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ELLA RHOADS HIGGINSON (January 28, 1862?-December 27, 1940) was a prominent American author. She wrote award-winning fiction, poetry, and essays characteristically set in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. She was the author of two collections of short stories, six books of poetry, a novel, a travel book, well over one hundred short stories, over four hundred poems, and numerous newspaper essays. She was influential for the ways her writing drew international attention to the then little-known Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

 

Bio quoted from Dr. Laura Laffrado’s Western Washington University research page at http://faculty.wwu.edu/laffrado/research.shtml