Written for the "Martha Washington Court Journal". <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Down cold snow-stretches of our bitter time, <br /> When windy shams and the rain-mocking sleet <br />Of Trade have cased us in such icy rime <br /> That hearts are scarcely hot enough to beat, <br />Thy fame, O Lady of the lofty eyes, <br /> Doth fall along the age, like as a lane <br />Of Spring, in whose most generous boundaries <br /> Full many a frozen virtue warms again. <br />To-day I saw the pale much-burdened form <br /> Of Charity come limping o'er the line, <br />And straighten from the bending of the storm <br /> And flush with stirrings of new strength divine, <br />Such influence and sweet gracious impulse came <br />Out of the beams of thine immortal name!<br /><br />Sidney Lanier<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/martha-washington/
