Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 1, The Ninth Edition/Sonnet V
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SONNET V.
TO THE SOUTH DOWNS.
AH! hills belov'd! where once a happy child,
Your beechen shades, 'your turf, your flowers among,'
I wove your blue-bells into garlands wild,
And woke your echoes with my artless song.
Ah! hills belov'd! your turf, your flowers remain;
But can they peace to this sad breast restore;
For one poor moment sooth the sense of pain,
And teach a breaking heart to throb no more?
And you, Aruna! in the vale below,
As to the sea your limpid waves you bear,
Can you one kind Lethean cup bestow,
To drink a long oblivion to my care?
Ah! no! when all, e'en Hope's last ray is gone,
There's no oblivion but in death alone!