The following is a poem from the 1825 by the great Southern poet and novelist William Gilmore Simms. It appears on page 309 in Selected Poems of William Gilmore Simms, edited by James Everett Kibler.

William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870)

They presence hath been grateful – thou hast brought
Toil and privation, which have tutor’d me,
To strength and fit endurance; – set me free
From vainest fancies, – and most kindly wrought
On the affections which had else run wild,
Untrained by meet denial of their thirst.
What though I held thee yesterday accurst, -
Believe me not the vain and erring child
Still to remember chastening by its pain,
More than its uses; – True, that to my home
Though hast brought grief, and often left it gloom; -
But that I do not of they deed complain,
Is proof that they have done no bootless part -
Have hurt my house, perchance, but help’d my heart.

Also see: Written in Mississippi

Tags: sonnet to the past, southern poet and writer, william gilmore simms

This entry was posted on October 1, 2012 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.