University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Poems

by T. Westwood

expand section 


143

SONNET.

[Shadows of incommunicable thought]

[_]

SUPPOSED TO BE FOUND AMONG THE PAPERS OF A PERSON OF UNSETTLED RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.

Shadows of incommunicable thought,
Beset me round;—as one who darkly strays
Through some deep forest's labyrinthine maze,
Far from the goal I long have vainly sought,
And powerless to direct my steps aright,
I wander on;—no guiding ray appears,
While mind-disturbing phantasies and fears
Throng o'er my brain, like visions of the night,
Burden'd with terror; wild forebodings spring
Fiercely to life, and doubts, like ambush'd snakes,
Start from distemper'd reason's noisome brakes,
And goad to madness with their torturing.—
Is there no hope, no refuge but the grave?—
Oh, God! behold me now, and hear, and guide, and save!