Poems (Southey)/Volume 1/Sonnet 7 - To the Evening Rainbow
For works with similar titles, see Sonnet.
SONNET VII.
To the EVENING RAINBOW.
Mild arch of promise! on the evening sky Thou shinest fair with many a lovely rayEach in the other melting. Much mine eye Delights to linger on thee; for the day,Changeful and many-weather'd, seem'd to smileFlashing brief splendor thro' its clouds awhile, That deepened dark anon and fell in rain:But pleasant it is now to pause, and viewThy various tints of frail and watery hue, And think the storm shall not return again.Such is the smile that Piety bestows On the good man's pale check, when he in peaceDeparting gently from a world of woes, Anticipates the realm where sorrows cease.1794.