Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON THE DEATH OF SIR W. RUSSELL, by WILLIAM COWPER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON THE DEATH OF SIR W. RUSSELL, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Doomed as I am in solitude to waste
Last Line: All that delights the happy--palls with me!
Subject(s): Despair


DOOMED, as I am, in solitude to waste
The present moments, and regret the past;
Deprived of every joy I valued most,
My friend torn from me, and my mistress lost,
Call not this gloom I wear, this anxious mien,
The dull effect of humour, or of spleen!
Still, still I mourn, with each returning day,
Him snatched by fate in early youth away,
And her, through tedious years of doubt and pain,
Fixed in her choice, and faithful, but in vain!
O prone to pity, generous, and sincere,
Whose eye ne'er yet refused the wretch a tear;
Whose heart the real claim of friendship knows,
Nor thinks a lover's are but fancied woes;
See me--ere yet my destined course half done,
Cast forth a wanderer on a world unknown!
See me neglected on the world's rude coast,
Each dear companion of my voyage lost!
Nor ask why clouds of sorrow shade my brow,
And ready tears wait only leave to flow!
Why all that soothes a heart from anguish free,
All that delights the happy--palls with me!





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