PATHWAY of light! o'er thy empurpled zone, <br />With lavish charms, perennial summer strays; <br />Soft 'midst thy spicy groves the zephyr plays, <br />While far around the rich perfumes are thrown; <br />The Amadavid-bird for thee alone <br />Spreads his gay plumes, that catch thy vivid rays; <br />For thee the gems with liquid lustre blaze, <br />And Nature's various wealth is all thy own. <br />But ah! not thine is Twilight's doubtful gloom, <br />Those mild gradations, mingling day with night; <br />Here instant darkness shrouds thy genial bloom, <br />Nor leaves my pensive soul that ling'ring light, <br />When musing Mem'ry would each trace resume <br />Of fading pleasures in successive flight.<br /><br />Helen Maria Williams<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-to-the-torrid-zone/
