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

by Charlotte Smith

SONNET LXIX.

WRITTEN AT THE SAME PLACE, ON SEEING A
SEAMAN RETUNR WHO HAD BEEN
IMPRISONED AT ROCHFORT.

CLOUDS, gold and purple, o'er the westering ray
    Threw a bright veil, and catching lights between,
    Fell on the glancing sail, that we had seen
With soft, but adverse winds, throughout the day
Contending vainly: as the vessel nears,
    Increasing numbers hail it from the shore;
Lo! on the deck a pallid form appears,
    Half wondering to behold himself once more
Approach his home—And now he can discern
    His cottage thatch amid surrounding trees;
    Yet, trembling, dreads lest sorrow or disease
Await him there, embittering his return:
But all he loves are safe; with heart elate,
Tho' poor and plunder'd, he absolves his fate!