Page:Elegiac Sonnets and Other Essays The Second Edition.pdf/20

[  6    ] SONNET V. TO THE SOUTH DOWNS. H, hills belov'd! where once, an happy child, Your beechen shades, 'your turf, your flowers among,' I wove your blue-bells into garlands wild,
 * And woke your echoes with my artless song.

Ah, hills belov'd! your turf, your flowers remain;
 * But can they peace to this sad breast restore,

For one poor moment soothe the sense of pain,
 * And teach a breaking heart to throb no more?

And you, *Aruna! in the vale below,
 * As to the sea your limpid waves you bear,

Can you one kind Lethean cup bestow,
 * To drink a long oblivion to my care?

Ah, no! -- when all, e'en hope's last ray is gone, There's no oblivion -- but in death alone!
 * The River Arun. SONNET