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

by Charlotte Smith

SONNET LXXXIII.

THE SEA VIEW.

THE upland shepherd, as reclined he lies
    On the soft turf that clothes the mountain brow,
Marks the bright Sea-line mingling with the skies;
    Or from his course celestial, sinking slow,
    The Summer-Sun in purple radiance low,
Blaze on the western waters; the wide scene
    Magnificent, and tranquil, seems to spread
Even o'er the Rustic's breast a joy serene,
    When, like dark plague-spots by the Demons shed,
Charged deep with death, upon the waves, far seen,
    Move the war-freighted ships; and fierce and red,
    Flash their destructive fires—The mangled dead
And dying victims then pollute the flood.
Ah, thus man spoils Heaven's glorious works with blood!