| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | I. Poetry and Sorrow | | By Charlotte Smith (1749–1806) |
| | | SHOULD 1 the lone wanderer, fainting on his way, | |
| Rest for a moment of the sultry hours, | |
| And, though his path through thorns and roughness lay, | |
| Pluck the wild rose or woodbine’s gadding flowers; | |
| Weaving gay wreaths beneath some sheltering tree, | 5 |
| The sense of sorrow he awhile may lose: | |
| So have I sought thy flowers, fair Poesy! | |
| So charmed my way with friendship and the Muse. | |
| But darker now grows life’s unhappy day, | |
| Dark with new clouds of evil yet to come; | 10 |
| Her pencil sickening Fancy throws away, | |
| And weary Hope reclines upon the tomb, | |
| And points my wishes to that tranquil shore, | |
| Where the pale spectre, Care, pursues no more! | |
| | | Note 1. Elegiac Sonnets and other Poems, by Charlotte Smith. 1797. [back] | | |
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