 | [Poems by Wilde in] Richard Henry Wilde |  |
SONNET
Calm mother of the night! on whose wild browLove—Solitude—High thought, and Peace have thrown
Immortal loveliness which shines even now
As in creation's infancy it shone;
When first serenely from thy starry throne
On Earth thou gazed ..., as on thy sleeping child,
And watched its couch in silence, and alone,
And tranquilly upon its slumbers smiled.
Now bowed with years—and more—with crimes defiled,
Its infancy and innocence are o'er
While there eternal Beauty pure and mild,
Lonely and sweet and pensive as before
Falls on our hearts—and all their passions wild
Beneath thine eye maternal throb no more!
| [Poems by Wilde in] Richard Henry Wilde | |