 | I. |
 |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
 | A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes |  |
326
SONNET V. On a FAMILY-PICTURE.
When pensive on that portraiture I gaze,
Where my four brothers round about me stand,
And four fair sisters smile with graces bland,
The goodly monument of happier days;
Where my four brothers round about me stand,
And four fair sisters smile with graces bland,
The goodly monument of happier days;
And think, how soon insatiate death, who preys
On all, has cropp'd the rest with ruthless hand,
While only I survive of all that band,
Which one chaste bed did to my father raise;
On all, has cropp'd the rest with ruthless hand,
While only I survive of all that band,
Which one chaste bed did to my father raise;
It seems, that like a column left alone,
The tott'ring remnant of some splendid fane,
'Scap'd from the fury of the barb'rous Gaul,
And wasting Time, which has the rest o'erthrown,
Amidst our house's ruins I remain,
Single, unprop'd, and nodding to my fall.
The tott'ring remnant of some splendid fane,
'Scap'd from the fury of the barb'rous Gaul,
And wasting Time, which has the rest o'erthrown,
Amidst our house's ruins I remain,
Single, unprop'd, and nodding to my fall.
| A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes | |