No. XXI.
Sonnet.
Ah! let not hope fallacious, airy, wild,
Illusive rays amid the tempest blend!
No more my soul with varied feelings rend,
Soft sensibility — refinement’s child!
May apathy her wand oblivious spread
Steep’s in lethean waves, with poppies twin’d,
And gently bending o’er my languid head,
To long repose beguile a wayward mind.
While keen reflection throbs in every vein,
Thy aid oblivion, vainly I implore!
This heart shall tremble with the sense of pain,
Till death’s cold hand a lasting peace restore.
Ah! say can reason’s feebler power controul,
The finer movements of the feeling soul? [258]