English poem
Sonnet XXV (WHY should I wish to hold…)
by Charlotte Smith (1749–1806)
WHY should I wish to hold in this low sphere 'A frail and feverish being?' Wherefore try Poorly from day to day to linger here, Against the powerful hand of Destiny? By those who know the force of hopeless care On the worn heart—I sure shall be forgiven, If to elude dark guilt, and dire despair, I go uncall'd—to mercy and to heaven! O thou! to save whose peace I now depart, Will thy soft mind thy poor lost friend deplore, When worms shall feed on this devoted heart, Where even thy image shall be found no more? Yet may thy pity mingle not with pain, For then thy hapless lover—dies in vain!
More by Charlotte Smith
- Sonnet XXII (O SOLITUDE! to thy sequester'd vale…)
- Sonnet XXIII (TO thy bright beams I turn…)
- Sonnet XXIV (MAKE there my tomb, beneath the…)
- Sonnet XXIX (WOULD'ST thou then have me tempt…)
- Sonnet XXVI (ON thy wild banks, by frequent…)
- Sonnet XXVII (SIGHING I see yon little troop…)
- Sonnet XXVIII (O THOU! whose name too often…)
- Sonnet XXX (BE the proud Thames of trade…)