Sonnets :: :: University of Virginia Library

How sweetly and how silently the river
Rolls at my feet, a mild majestic stream!
O'er it the woods hang fondly, a sweet dream
Of peace and summer suns is theirs; and ever
Within their arbours tenants of the spring
Sing songs of love! The vineyards up the hills
Run wildly, and the laughing maiden fills
Her basket with their clusters as they cling
Invitingly around! O gentle Nature,
Man's wisest counsellor, had He, whose sphere
Is now the tomb, but look'd upon a feature
Of thy fair face, in his too mad career,
He had not shook the world, or gone a creature
Far off to die, but still had lingered here!