Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 2, The Second Edition/Sonnet LXXI

by Charlotte Smith

SONNET LXXI.

WRITTEN AT WEYMOUTH IN WINTER.

THE chill waves whiten in the sharp North-east;
    Cold, cold the night-blast comes, with sullen sound,
And black and gloomy, like my cheerless breast:
    Frowns the dark pier and lonely sea-view round.
Yet a few months—and on the peopled strand
    Pleasure shall all her varied forms display;
Nymphs lightly tread the bright reflecting sand,
    And proud sails whiten all the summer bay:
Then, from these winds that whistle keen and bleak,
    Music's delightful melodies shall float
O'er the blue waters; but 'tis mine to seek
    Rather, some unfrequented shade, remote
From sights and sounds of gaiety——I mourn
All that gave me delight——Ah! never to return!