Sonnet: At Ostend, July 22nd 1787

William Lisle Bowles

How sweet the tuneful bells' responsive peal!
As when, at opening morn, the fragrant breeze
Breathes on the trembling sense of wan disease,
So piercing to my heart their force I feel!
And hark! with lessening cadence now they fall,
And now, along the white and level tide,
They fling their melancholy music wide,
Bidding me many a tender thought recall
Of summer-days, and those delightful years
When by my native streams, in life's fair prime,
The mournful magic of their mingling chime
First waked my wond'ring childhood into tears;—
But seeming now, when all those days are o'er,
The sounds of joy, once heard, and heard no more.

Next 10 Poems

• William Lisle Bowles : Sonnet: July 18th 1787
• William Lisle Bowles : Sonnet: Languid, And Sad, And Slow, From Day To Day
• William Lisle Bowles : Sonnet: O Poverty! Though From Thy Haggard Eye
• William Lisle Bowles : Time And Grief
• William Lisle Bowles : To A Friend
• William Lisle Bowles : To The River Itchin, Near Winton
• William Lisle Bowles : To The River Tweed
• William Lisle Bowles : To The River Wenbeck
• William Lisle Bowles : V. To The River Tweed.
• William Lisle Bowles : Vi. Evening, As Slow Thy Placid Shades Descend...

Previous 10 Poems

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