Elegiac sonnets. Volume 1 of 2  contents   |   previous   |   next SONNET LIX. WRITTEN SEPT. 1791, DURING A REMARKABLE THUNDER STORM, IN WHICH THE MOON WAS PERFECTLY CLEAR, WHILE THE TEMPEST GATHERED IN VARIOUS DIRECTIONS NEAR THE EARTH. WHAT awful pageants crowd the evening sky!          The low horizon gathering vapours shroud,          Sudden, from many a deep embattled cloud Terrific thunders burst and lightenings fly While in serenest azure, beaming high,          Night's regent of her calm pavilion proud, Gilds the dark shadows that beneath her lie,          Unvex'd by all their conflicts fierce and loud So, in unsullied dignity elate,          A spirit conscious of superior worth, In placid elevation firmly great,          Scorns the vain cares that give contention birth; And blest with peace above the shocks of Fate,          Smiles at the tumult of the troubled Earth.  contents   |   previous   |   next		HOME INTRODUCTION