O thou! meek Orb! that stealing o'er the dale <br />Cheer'st with thy modest beams the noon of night! <br />On the smooth lake diffusing silv'ry light, <br />Sublimely still, and beautifully pale! <br />What can thy cool and placid eye avail, <br />Where fierce despair absorbs the mental sight, <br />While inbred glooms the vagrant thoughts invite, <br />To tempt the gulph where howling fiends assail? <br />O, Night! all nature owns thy temper'd pow'r; <br />Thy solemn pause, thy dews, thy pensive beam; <br />Thy sweet breath whisp'ring in the moonlight bow'r, <br />While fainting flow'rets kiss the wand'ring stream! <br />Yet, vain is ev'ry charm! and vain the hour, <br />That brings to madd'ning love, no soothing dream!<br /><br />Mary Darby Robinson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-xxiv-o-thou-meek-orb/
