Poems (Southey)/Volume 1/Sonnet 10 (How darkly o'er yon far-off mountain frowns)
For works with similar titles, see Sonnet.
SONNET X.
How darkly o'er yon far-off mountain frowns The gather'd tempest! from that lurid cloud The deep-voiced thunders roll, aweful and loudTho' distant; while upon the misty downsFast falls in shadowy streaks the pelting rain. I never saw so terrible a storm!Perhaps some way-worn traveller in vain Wraps his torn raiment round his shivering formCold even as Hope within him! I the whilePause me in sadness tho' the sun beams smile Cheerily round me. Ah that thus my lotMight be with Peace and Solitude assign'd, Where I might from some little quiet cot,Sigh for the crimes and miseries of mankind!1794.