Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Mary EmilyBradley

647 A Spray of Honeysuckle

I BROKE one day a slender stem,

Thick-set with little golden horns,

Half bud, half blossom, and a gem—

Such as one finds in autumn morns

When all the grass with dew is strung—

On every fairy bugle hung.

Careless, I dropped it, in a place

Where no light shone, and so forgot

Its delicate, dewy, flowering grace,

Till presently from the dark spot

A charming sense of sweetness came,

That woke an answering sense of shame.

Quickly I thought, O heart of mine,

A lesson for thee plain to read:

Thou needest not that light should shine,

Or fellow-men thy virtues heed:

Enough—if haply this be so—

That thou hast sweetness to bestow!