| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | V. Christmas Sonnets. 4. To J. L. G. | | By Bayard Taylor (1825–1878) |
| | | IF I could touch with Petrarch’s pen this strain | |
| Of graver song, and shape to liquid flow | |
| Of soft Italian syllables the glow | |
| That warms my heart, my tribute were not vain; | |
| But how shall I such measured sweetness gain | 5 |
| As may your golden nature fitly show, | |
| And with the heart-light shine, that fills you so, | |
| It pales the graces of the cultured brain? | |
| Long have I known, Love better is than Fame, | |
| And Love hath crowned you; yet if any bay | 10 |
| Cling to my chaplet when the years have fled | |
| And I am dust, may this which bears your name | |
| Cling latest, that my love’s result shall stay, | |
| When that which mine ambition wrought is dead! | | | | |
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