A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields/Sonnet—The Retreat (Joséphin Soulary)
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For works with similar titles, see The Retreat.
Sonnet.—THE RETREAT.
It was a hidden corner in a hedge!
A thicket full of sap and sombre shade!
An eglantine and clematis that swayed
Upon a white-thorn, by the footpath's edge,
A dome, with flowers upon its cornice-ledge,
For my delight, and mine alone, had made.
That was my house and desert. There I played
And there I dreamed, oft mindless of the pledge
I left at home or school. There, eyes, ears and heart
Revelled in rays and sounds, from men apart.
O nook retired! O childhood's best-loved goal!
Can I not stretch myself in thee once more?
Ah me! What mighty magic may restore
That puny figure, and that free great soul!