SONNET.[1]
Reading edition
SONNET.[1]
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BY THOMAS NOON TALFOURD.
———
How often have I fixed a stranger’s gaze
On yonder turrets clad in light as fair
As this soft sunset lends—pleas’d to drink air
Of learning that from calm of ancient days
Breathes ’round them ever:—now to me they wear
The tinge of dearer thought; the radiant haze
That crowns them thickens as, with fonder care,
And by its flickering sparkles, sense conveys
Of youth’s first triumphs:—for amid their seats
One little student’s heart impatient beats
With blood of mine. O God, vouchsafe him power
When I am dust to stand on this sweet place
And, through the vista of long years, embrace
Without a blush this first Etonian hour!