O Time! who know’st a lenient hand to lay
Softest on sorrow’s wound, and slowly thence
(Lulling to sad repose the weary sense)
The faint pang stealest unperceived away;
On thee I rest my only hope at last,
And think, when thou hast dried the bitter tear
That flows in vain o’er all my soul held dear,
I may look back on every sorrow past,
And meet life’s peaceful evening with a smile-
As some lone bird, at day’s departing hour,
Sings in the sunbeam, of the transient shower
Forgetful, though its wings are wet the while:-
Yet ah! how much must that poor heart endure,
Which hopes from thee, and thee alone, a cure!
(William Lisle Bowles)
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Based on Topics: Sadness Poems, Time Poems, Smiling Poems, Birds Poems, Past PoemsBased on Keywords: thence, cure, shower, wound, flows, sense, endure, peaceful, pang, dried, transient