Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
William Lisle Bowles. 17621850509. Time and Grief
O TIME! who know’st a lenient hand to lay | |
Softest on sorrow’s wound, and slowly thence | |
(Lulling to sad repose the weary sense) | |
The faint pang stealest unperceived away; | |
On thee I rest my only hope at last, | 5 |
And think, when thou hast dried the bitter tear | |
That flows in vain o’er all my soul held dear, | |
I may look back on every sorrow past, | |
And meet life’s peaceful evening with a smile: | |
As some lone bird, at day’s departing hour, | 10 |
Sings in the sunbeam, of the transient shower | |
Forgetful, though its wings are wet the while:— | |
Yet ah! how much must this poor heart endure, | |
Which hopes from thee, and thee alone, a cure! |