THE GENTLE LOOK[47:1]
Reading edition
THE GENTLE LOOK[47:1]
Thou gentle Look, that didst my soul beguile, Why hast thou left me? Still in some fond dream Revisit my sad heart, auspicious Smile! As falls on closing flowers the lunar beam: What time, in sickly mood, at parting day 5 I lay me down and think of happier years; [48]Of joys, that glimmer'd in Hope's twilight ray, Then left me darkling in a vale of tears. O pleasant days of Hope—for ever gone! Could I recall you!—But that thought is vain. 10 Availeth not Persuasion's sweetest tone To lure the fleet-wing'd Travellers back again: Yet fair, though faint, their images shall gleam Like the bright Rainbow on a willowy stream.[48:1]
? 1793.
FOOTNOTES:
LINENOTES:
Title] Irregular Sonnet MS. E: Effusion xiv. 1796: Sonnet III. 1797, 1803: Sonnet viii. 1828, 1829, 1834: The Smile P. W. 1885: The Gentle Look P. W. 1893.
[
1
]
Thou] O Letter, 1794.
[
9
]
gone] flown MS. E.
[
10
]
you] one Letter, 1794.
[
13-14
]
Anon they haste to everlasting Night, Nor can a Giant's arm arrest them in their flight Letter, 1794. On on, &c., MS. E.