English poem
Sonnet X (AH! why will Mem'ry with officious…)
by Charlotte Smith (1749–1806)
AH! why will Mem'ry with officious care The long-lost visions of my days renew? Why paint the vernal landscape green and fair, When Life's gay dawn was opening to my view? Ah! wherefore bring those moments of delight, When with my Anna, on the southern shore, I thought the future, as the present bright? Ye dear delusions!2ye return no more! Alas! how diff'rent does the truth appear, From the warm picture youth's rash hand pourtrays! How fades the scene, as we approach it near, And pain and sorrow strike—how many ways! Yet of that tender heart, ah! still retain A share for me2and I will not complain.
More by Charlotte Smith
- Sonnet V (AH! hills belov'd!2where once a happy…)
- Sonnet VI (O, HOPE! thou soother sweet of…)
- Sonnet VII (SWEET poet of the woods!2a long…)
- SONNET VIII. To Spring
- Sonnet XC (FORGETFULNESS! I would thy hand could…)
- Sonnet XCI (I CAN in groups these mimic…)
- Sonnet XCII (LOW murmurs creep along the woody…)
- Sonnet XI (COME, balmy Sleep! tired Nature's soft…)