Page:Elegiac Sonnets 2.pdf/138

Rh

Temper'd with drugs, of sovereign use t'assuage The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage; To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care, And dry the tearful sluices of despair; Charm'd with that virtuous draught, th' exalted mind All sense of woe delivers to the wind. Tho' on the blazing pile his father lay, Or a loved brother groan'd his life away, Or darling son, oppress'd by ruffian force, Fell breathless at his feet a mangled corse, From morn to eve, impassive and serene, The man entranced would view the deathful scene: These drugs so friendly to the joys of life, Bright Helen learn'd from Thone's imperial wife."