Sonnet LVI (IF, by his torturing, savage foes…)

IF, by his torturing, savage foes untraced, The breathless Captive gain some trackless glade, Yet hears the war-whoop howl along the waste, And dreads the reptile-monsters of the shade; The giant reeds that murmur round the flood, Seem to conceal some hideous form beneath; And every hollow blast that shakes the wood, Speaks to his trembling heart of woe and death. With horror fraught, and desolate dismay, On such a wanderer falls the starless night; But if, far streaming, a propitious ray Leads to some amicable fort his sight, He hails the beam benign that guides his way, As I, my Harriet, bless thy friendship's cheering light.