Tag Archives: Elizabeth Gooch

Elizabeth Gooch, “Sonnet. Addressed to–“

ELIZABETH GOOCH

“Sonnet. Addressed to —”

 

Selecting from the sweetest flow’rs, the Bee
Roves, unrestrain’d, the perfum’d walks among;
I cull Parnassus’ giddy heights for thee,
Or sing thy praises in the love-sick song.

Sometimes, mayhap, in melancholy mood,                                                   5
Contemplative, the desert paths I range;
And watch the parting sun-beams o’er the wood,
The leafless branches, and autumnal change.

In my sad heart alone no change appears;
Of ev’ry thought thy image is the end;                                                      10
I wander through a wilderness of tears,
Bereft of thee, and ev’ry earthly friend.
Will then my heavy suff’rings never cease,
But lies in death my only road to peace?

NOTES:

2 Roves  “To wander, roam” (OED).

3 Parnassus “Mount Parnassus, regarded as the source of literary, esp. poetic, inspiration” (OED).

5 mayhap Perhaps.

12 Bereft “Forcibly deprived” (OED).

SOURCE: Poems on Various Subjects (London, 1793), p. 33. [Google Books] 

Edited by Halsey Williamson

Elizabeth Gooch, “To a Friend”

ELIZABETH GOOCH

“To a Friend”

 

To lose my visionary life
Has been my dearest wish of late;
Tir’d of the world’s eternal strife,
I bow beneath the storms of Fate.

Condemn’d to misery and pain,                                                 5
Long have I wander’d, long suppress’d
The chilling marks of cold disdain
From those in whom I once was blest!

But, ah! the rankling wound can ne’er
Within my bosom’s core be heal’d;                                    10
Those pangs are always most severe
That in the heart remain conceal’d.

Retirement’s haunts at length invite
To promis’d scenes of future peace;
There, if I cannot hope delight,                                                  15
Oppressive tumults yet may cease.

Ah ! strive not then by tender care
To lure me from my fix’d abode,
On Earth my fate is fell despair—
In Heav’n—my Judge will be my God!                                20

NOTES:

9 rankling “To fester, esp. to a degree that causes pain” (OED).

13 Retirement “A secluded or private place; a retreat” (OED).

16 tumults “Great disturbance of mind or feeling” (OED).

19 fell “Intensely painful or destructive” (OED).

SOURCE:  Poems on Various Subjects (London, 1793), pp. 10-11. [Google Books]

Edited by Halsey Williamson