Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO RECOVERY, by ROBERT SOUTHEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO RECOVERY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Recovery, where art thou?
Last Line: Watches the dawn of day.
Subject(s): Blessings; Depression, Mental; Healing; Hope; Prayer; Waiting; Mentally Depressed; Mental Distress; Cures; Optimism


RECOVERY, where art thou?
Daughter of Heaven, where shall we seek thy help?
Upon what hallowed fountain hast thou laid
O nymph adored, thy spell?

By the grey ocean's verge,
Daughter of Heaven, we seek thee, but in vain;
We find no healing in the breeze that sweeps
Thy thymy mountain's brow.

Where are the happy hours,
The sunshine that so cheer'd the morn of life!
For health is fled, and with her fled the joys
That made existence dear.

I saw the distant hills
Smile in the radiance of the orient beam,
And gazed delighted that anon our feet
Should visit scenes so fair.

I look'd abroad at noon,
The shadow and the storm were on the hills.
The crags that like a faery fabric shone
Darkness had overwhelm'd.

On you, ye coming years,
So fairly shone the April gleam of hope,
So darkly o'er the distance late so bright,
Now settle the black clouds.

Come thou and chase away
Sorrow and pain, the persecuting powers
That make the melancholy day so long,
So long the restless night.

Shall we not find thee here,
Recovery, on the ocean's breezy strand?
Is there no healing in the gales that sweep
The thymy mountain's brow?

I look for thy approach,
O life-preserving Power! as he who strays
Alone in darkness o'er the pathless marsh
Watches the dawn of day.





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