Page:Poems - Southey (1799) volume 1.djvu/140

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124

SONNET X.



How darkly o'er yon far-off mountain frownsThe gather'd tempest! from that lurid cloudThe deep-voiced thunders roll, aweful and loudTho' distant; while upon the misty downsFast falls in shadowy streaks the pelting rain.I never saw so terrible a storm!Perhaps some way-worn traveller in vainWraps his torn raiment round his shivering formCold even as Hope within him! I the whilePause me in sadness tho' the sun beams smileCheerily round me. Ah that thus my lotMight be with Peace and Solitude assign'd,Where I might from some little quiet cot,Sigh for the crimes and miseries of mankind!1794.