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

by Charlotte Smith

SONNET LXXXI.

HE may be envied, who with tranquil breast
    Can wander in the wild and woodland scene,
When Summer's glowing hands have newly drest
    The shadowy forests, and the copses green;
Who, unpursued by care, can pass his hours
    Where briony and woodbine fringe the trees,
    On thymy banks reposing, while the bees
Murmur "their fairy tunes in praise of flowers;"
    Or on the rock with ivy clad, and fern
That overhangs the osier-whispering bed
    Of some clear current, bid his wishes turn
From this bad world; and by calm reason led,
    Knows, in refined retirement, to possess
    By friendship hallow'd—rural happiness!