Ix. O Poverty! Though From Thy Haggard Eye...

William Lisle Bowles

O POVERTY! though from thy haggard eye,
Thy cheerless mein, of every charm bereft,
Thy brow, that hope's last traces long have left,
Vain Fortune's feeble sons with terror fly;
Thy rugged paths with pleasure I attend; --
For Fancy, that with fairest dreams can bless;
And Patience, in the Pall of Wretchedness,
Sad-smiling, as the ruthless storms descend;
And Piety, forgiving every wrong,
And meek Content, whose griefs no more rebel;
And Genius, warbling sweet her saddest song;
And Pity, list'ning to the poor man's knell,
Long banish'd from the world's insulting throng;
With Thee, and loveliest Melancholy, dwell. 

Next 10 Poems

• William Lisle Bowles : Languid, And Sad, And Slow, From Day To Day
• William Lisle Bowles : Netley Abbey
• William Lisle Bowles : O Poverty! Though From Thy Haggard Eye
• William Lisle Bowles : O Thou, Whose Stern Command And Precepts Pure
• William Lisle Bowles : On A Beautiful Landscape
• William Lisle Bowles : On A Distant View Of England
• William Lisle Bowles : On Hearing
• William Lisle Bowles : On The Funeral Of Charles The First
• William Lisle Bowles : On The Funeral Of Charles The First At Night, In St. George's Chapel, Windsor
• William Lisle Bowles : Sonnet: At Dover Cliffs, July 20th 1787

Previous 10 Poems

• William Lisle Bowles : Iv. To The River Wenbeck
• William Lisle Bowles : In Youth
• William Lisle Bowles : In Age
• William Lisle Bowles : Iii. O Thou, Whose Stern Command And Precepts Pure...
• William Lisle Bowles : Ii. Written At Bamborough Castle.
• William Lisle Bowles : I. Written At Tinemouth, Northumberland, After A Tempestuous Voyage.
• William Lisle Bowles : Evening
• William Lisle Bowles : Bereavement
• William Lisle Bowles : At Dover Cliffs, July 20th 1787
• William Lisle Bowles : At A Village In Scotland