Respite (Lovecraft)
Thru well-kept arbors fruitlessly I stray'd
In quest of respite from the causeless woes
That throng the weary spirit, and invade
The mind too seldom dreamless with repose.
Not neat-hedg'd path, nor garden's radiant grace,
Nor crystal fountain playing o'er the green,
Could cheer my heart, or from my soul efface
The tragedy of things that might have been.
The orchard boughs, bedeck'd with flow'rs of spring,
The verdant lawns, with skillful labor shorn,
To me no joy nor grateful thrill could bring;
In tears I came, and linger'd but to mourn.
One day, in idleness, my footsteps found
The weed-chok'd slope that leads to sylvan deeps
Where leafy carpets clothe th' untrodden ground,
And Nature, unadorn'd, her palace keeps.
'Twas there, in regions to mankind unknown,
Where swamp and brake benignant spirits hide,
I stood at last, with Nature's God alone,
And gain'd the respite that the world deny'd.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1951, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 72 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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