Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 1, The Ninth Edition/Sonnet V

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search

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!