| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | The Flight of Joy | | By Henry Shelton Sanford, Jr. (1865–1891) |
| | | AS sometimes, in the very heart of June, | |
| Which still remembers all the buds of May, | |
| And half foresees the autumn’s rich display, | |
| And all the splendor of the harvest moon: | |
| As if November had returned too soon, | 5 |
| Cold winds blow, and the sky is chill and gray, | |
| And all is dreary that but now seemed gay, | |
| And Nature with herself seems out of tune,— | |
| So, in the early summer of my life, | |
| Instead of happy strength and strenuous play, | 10 |
| Eld’s cares have come, long wearied of the strife | |
| That youth delights in; and my summer day | |
| Is darkened as by Death’s impending knife, | |
| And I would die, for joy is far away. | | | | |
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