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

by Charlotte Smith

SONNET LXXVIII.

SNOWDROPS.

WAN Heralds of the Sun and Summer gale!
    That seem just fallen from infant Zephyrs' wing;
Not now, as once, with heart revived I hail
    Your modest buds, that for the brow of Spring
Form the first simple garland—Now no more
    Escaping for a moment all my cares,
Shall I, with pensive, silent step, explore
    The woods yet leafless; where to chilling airs
Your green and pencil'd blossoms, trembling, wave.
    Ah! ye soft, transient children of the ground,
More fair was she on whose untimely grave
    Flow my unceasing tears! Their varied round
The Seasons go; while I through all repine:
For fixt regret, and hopeless grief are mine.