O wretch! hath Madness cur'd thy dire Despair? <br />Yes--All thy Sorrows now are light as Air: <br />No more you mourn your once lov'd Husband's Fate, <br />Who bravely perish'd for a thankless State. <br />For rolling Years thy Piety prevail'd; <br />At length, quite sunk--thy Hope, thy Patience fail'd: <br />Distracted now you tread on Life's last Stage, <br />Nor feel the Weight of Poverty and Age: <br />How blest in this, compar'd with those, whose Lot <br />Dooms them to Miseries, by you forgot! <br /> <br />Now, wild as Winds, you from your Off--spring fly, <br />Or fright them from you with distracted Eye; <br />Rove thro' the Streets; or sing, devoid of Care, <br />With ratter'd Garments, and dishevell'd Hair; <br />By hooting Boys to higher Phrenzy fir'd, <br />At length you fink, by cruel Treatment tir'd, <br />Sink into Sleep, an Emblem of the Dead, <br />A Stone thy Pillow, the cold Earth thy Bed. <br /> <br />O tell it not; let none the Story hear, <br />Lest Britain's Martial Sons should learn to fear: <br />And when they next the hostile Wall attack, <br />Feel the Heart fail, the lifted Arm grow slack; <br />And pausing cry--Tho' Death we scorn to dread, <br />Our Orphan Off--spring, must they pine for Bread? <br />See their lov'd Mothers into Prisons thrown; <br />And, unreliev'd, in iron Bondage groan? <br /> <br />BRITAIN, for this impending Ruin dread; <br />Their Woes call loud for Vengeance on thy Head: <br />Nor wonder, if Disasters wait your Fleets; <br />Nor wonder at Complainings in your Streets: <br />Be timely wise; arrest th' uplifted Hand, <br />Ere Pestilence or Famine sweep the Land.<br /><br />Mary Barber<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-seeing-an-officer-s-widow-distracted/
