1777 | Bryant

Charity Bryant (22 may 1777 – 06 oct 1851 | North Bridgewater MA – Weybridge VT) poet, teacher, focus on acrostic poetry, Boston marriage partner with Sylvia Drake.


These words when put together will express the greatest charm a female can possess.

Nature, dear friend, clad in mourning lies! And every bird for gayer refuge fly’s. She

liked the naked trees, which return a hollow sound & whistle in the breeze. Nature

dressed in all her gay attire; earth again receives her wonted fire. Oh shall I still believe

my Sylvia will prove kind? That she will ne’er deceive this heart to her inclin’d. By every

gentle tie that binds the tender heart, whether could I fly should she from me depart!

Where could I rest my head but on her friendly breast, where all the weary rest. How

could I bear to see her from my bosom torn! But Hope shall still preside and paint the

brighter side. As more than seven years your senior, I may be first to leave this little plot

of Ground. May no rude Changes come to cross your path – or mar your peaceful home.


Cleves, Rachel Hope. Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. https://archive.org/details/charitysylviasam0000clev/page/46/mode/1up