Could the sad trembling tenant of this breast
Declare to what delicious scenes it flies,
When night, and silence seal these weary eyes,
Yielding awhile my anxious sorrows rest;
If, as I think, it then with freedom blest,
May seek the friend for whom it hourly sighs
Thro’ tedious days, that joy might well suffice,
To cheer the following morn, and when opprest
By present cares, the hopes of coming night
And sleep to free it from earth’s heavy chain,
Should sooth my soul with promise of delight;
The soft reflection might relieve the pain
Of absence, mock the transitory reign
Of fate, and scorn the bounds of space in rapid flight.
From: https://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/tighe_verses/editions.tighe_verses.2015.XXIVsonnet.html
Date: 1798
By: Mary Blackford/Blanchford Tighe (1772-1810)
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