English Poetry. William Lisle Bowles. Sonnet 9. O Poverty!. Уильям Лайл Боулз.

William Lisle Bowles (Уильям Лайл Боулз)

Sonnet 9. O Poverty!

O Poverty! though from thy haggard eye,
Thy cheerless mein, of every charm bereft.
Thy brow, that hope's last traces long have left,
Vain Fortune's feeble sons with terror fly;
Thy rugged paths with pleasure I attend;—
For Fancy, that with fairest dreams can bless;
And Patience, in the Pall of Wretchedness,
Sad-smiling, as the ruthless storms descend;
And Piety, forgiving every wrong,
And meek Content, whose griefs no more rebel;
And Genius, warbling sweet her saddest song;
And Pity, list'ning to the poor man's knell,
Long banish'd from the world's insulting throng;
With Thee, and loveliest Melancholy, dwell.

William Lisle Bowles’s other poems:

1. Sonnet 11. Written at Ostend
2. Elegy Written at the Hot-Wells, Bristol
3. Sonnet 13. O Time!
4. Netley Abbey
5. In Youth

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