And Plants an Evergreen which Fears It Not

 To Patience
A Sonnet
by Mary Young Sewell 

Oh heav'nly patience!-- softest nurse of woe!
Whose gentle hand can smoothe the couch of pain,
Where shall we find thee in this scene below
 Where watchful science seeks thy haunts in vain?
Not on Parnassian height, where dwells the muse
And fancy bathes in heliconian dews
 Nor yet where enterprize, with quiv'ring ray,
 O'er the wild heath directs his midnight way!--
Nor yet where proud philosophy explores
 The mystic page with vain tho' fervent care
 Nor yet where bold ambition madly soars
 To grasp a crown, tho thorns are twisted there;
No, gentle patience!-- In the lowly vale
Humility has trimm'd thy peaceful cot
Where christian hope endures the wint'ry gale,
And plants an evergreen which fears it not.