 | Elegiac sonnets, and other poems |  |
32
SONNET XXXII. TO MELANCHOLY.
WRITTEN ON THE BANKS OF THE ARUN, OCTOBER 1785,
When latest Autumn spreads her evening veil,And the grey mists from these dim waves arise,
I love to listen to the hollow sighs,
Thro' the half-leafless wood that breathes the gale:
For at such hours the shadowy phantom, pale,
Oft seems to fleet before the poet's eyes;
Strange sounds are heard, and mournful melodies,
As of night-wanderers, who their woes bewail!
Here, by his native stream, at such an hour,
Pity's own Otway I methinks could meet,
And hear his deep sighs swell the sadden'd wind!
O Melancholy!—such thy magic power,
That to the soul these dreams are often sweet,
And sooth the pensive visionary mind!
| Elegiac sonnets, and other poems | |