Original (English)

Part I. YOUTH AND CHANGE INTRODUCTORY SONNET   A Sonnet is a moment's monument,—   Memorial from the Soul's eternity   To one dead deathless hour. Look that it be,   Whether for lustral rite or dire portent,   Of its own arduous fulness reverent:   Carve it in ivory or in ebony,   As Day or Night may rule; and let Time see   Its flowering crest impearled and orient.   A Sonnet is a coin: its face reveals   The soul,—its converse, to what Power 'tis due:—