| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| William Lisle Bowles. 1762–1850 |
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| 509. Time and Grief |
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| O TIME! who know'st a lenient hand to lay | |
| Softest on sorrow's wound, and slowly thence | |
| (Lulling to sad repose the weary sense) | |
| The faint pang stealest unperceived away; | |
| On thee I rest my only hope at last, | 5 |
| And think, when thou hast dried the bitter tear | |
| That flows in vain o'er all my soul held dear, | |
| I may look back on every sorrow past, | |
| And meet life's peaceful evening with a smile: | |
| As some lone bird, at day's departing hour, | 10 |
| Sings in the sunbeam, of the transient shower | |
| Forgetful, though its wings are wet the while:— | |
| Yet ah! how much must this poor heart endure, | |
| Which hopes from thee, and thee alone, a cure! | |
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