Poems (Ryan)/Sonnet
SONNET.
An idle thoughtless youth, long years ago,
Meandering upon a coral strand,
Finding a seed from a strange, unknown land,
In his fair garden did the embryo sow.
The seed took root, and proved a noisome weed—
A pois'nous vine that ran along the ground,
And round the flowers deadly tendrils wound.
Ten thousand seeds produced from that one seed,
By winds in other gardens soon were blown.
Storms far and near the loathsome seeds conveyed,
And where they fell, dire destruction followed.
So vice into man's heart comes e'er unknown,
But being there, virtues are easily foiled
And kindest natures are forever ruined.
Meandering upon a coral strand,
Finding a seed from a strange, unknown land,
In his fair garden did the embryo sow.
The seed took root, and proved a noisome weed—
A pois'nous vine that ran along the ground,
And round the flowers deadly tendrils wound.
Ten thousand seeds produced from that one seed,
By winds in other gardens soon were blown.
Storms far and near the loathsome seeds conveyed,
And where they fell, dire destruction followed.
So vice into man's heart comes e'er unknown,
But being there, virtues are easily foiled
And kindest natures are forever ruined.