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Poem by Anna Seward


Sonnet 14. Ingratitude, how deadly is thy smart


Ingratitude, how deadly is thy smart
    Proceeding from the Form we fondly love!
    How light, compared, all other sorrows prove!
    Thou shed'st a Night of Woe, from whence depart
The gentle beams of Patience, that the heart
    'Mid lesser ills, illume.—Thy Victims rove
    Unquiet as the Ghost that haunts the Grove
    Where Murder spilt the life-blood.—O! thy dart
Kills more than Life,—e'en all that makes Life dear;
    Till we “the sensible of pain” wou'd change
    For Phrenzy, that defies the bitter tear;
Or wish, in kindred callousness, to range
    Where moon-ey'd Idiocy, with fallen lip,
    Drags the loose knee, and intermitting step.


July 1773

Anna Seward


Anna Seward's other poems:
  1. Sonnet 58. Not the slow Hearse, where nod the sable plumes
  2. Sonnet 25. Fortunate Vale! exulting Hill! dear Plain!
  3. Sonnet 71. While Summer Roses all their glory yield
  4. Sonnet 15. The evening shines in May's luxuriant pride
  5. Sonnet 11. How sweet to rove, from summer sun-beams veil'd


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