Poems (Nealds)/Sonnet written during sickness and sorrow

by Adeline Martha Nealds

SONNET, WRITTEN DURING SICKNESS AND SORROW.

In meditative mood I lie
 Upon my restless couch of pain;
To close my weary eyes I try,
 And balmy sleep I court in vain.

For she, alas! too often flies
 From the sad wretch, a prey to woe,
To light upon the beaming eyes
 Of those whose breasts with pleasure glow.
Oh! seldom round my aching head
 Her poppy wreaths she deigns to twine,
Or on my unclos'd lids to shed
 One drop of Lethe's dew benign.
Each morning dawns upon my grief,
And night, alas! brings no relief.