10
Elegiac Sonnets.
SONNET LXIX.
WRITTEN AT THE SAME PLACE, ON SEEING A
SEAMAN RETUNR WHO HAD BEEN
IMPRISONED AT ROCHFORT.
CLOUDS, gold and purple, o'er the westering ray
Threw a bright veil, and catching lights between,
Fell on the glancing sail, that we had seen
With soft, but adverse winds, throughout the day
Contending vainly: as the vessel nears,
Increasing numbers hail it from the shore;
Lo! on the deck a pallid form appears,
Half wondering to behold himself once more
Approach his home—And now he can discern
His cottage thatch amid surrounding trees;
Yet, trembling, dreads lest sorrow or disease
Await him there, embittering his return:
But all he loves are safe; with heart elate,
Tho' poor and plunder'd, he absolves his fate!
