XXIV
XXIV [1]
Could the sad trembling tenant of this breast
Declare to what delicious scenes it flies,
When night, and silence seal these weary eyes,
Yielding awhile my anxious sorrows rest;
If, as I think, it then with freedom blest,5
May seek the friend for whom it hourly sighs
Thro' tedious days, that joy might well suffice,
To cheer the following morn, and when opprest
By present cares, the hopes of coming night
And sleep to free it from earth's heavy chain,10
Should sooth my soul with promise of delight;
The soft reflection might relieve the pain
Of absence, mock the transitory reign
Of fate, and scorn the bounds of space in rapid flight.
Notes
[1] EDITOR'S NOTE: "Could the sad trembling tenant of this breast" does not appear in Psyche, with Other Poems or Mary (or Collected Poems and Journals); the illustration dates the poem to Harling Hall 1798 and depicts the church next to West Harling Hall in Norfolk. Tighe makes the following note to the title: "In allusion to a fanciful idea of some metaphysicians, that the soul quits the body and feels herself at liberty during the hours of Sleep--." BACK
