| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | VI. “Out of Doors While the Hamlet Is Sleeping” | | By Charlotte Smith (1749–1806) |
| | | WHILE thus I wander, cheerless and unblest, | |
| And find in change of place no change of pain, | |
| In tranquil sleep the village laborers rest, | |
| And taste repose that I pursue in vain. | |
| Hushed is the hamlet now; and faintly gleam | 5 |
| The dying embers from the casement low | |
| Of the thatched cottage, while the Moon’s wan beam | |
| Lends a new lustre to the dazzling snow. | |
| O’er the cold waste, amid the freezing night, | |
| Scarce heeding whither, desolate I stray. | 10 |
| For me, pale eye of evening! thy soft light | |
| Leads to no happy home; my weary way | |
| Ends but in dark vicissitude of care: | |
| I only fly from doubt to meet despair. | | | | |
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