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1747–1809

SONNET XCIV.

Anna Seward

All is not right with him, who ill sustains Retirement's silent hours.— Himself he flies, Perchance from that insipid equipoise, Which always with the hapless mind remains

That feels no native bias; never gains One energy of will, that does not rise From some external cause, to which he hies From his own blank inanity.— When reigns,

With a strong, cultur'd mind, this wretched hate To commune with himself, from thought that tells Of some lost joy, or dreaded stroke of Fate He struggles to escape;— or sense that dwells

On secret guilt towards God, or Man, with weight Thrice dire, the self-exiling flight impels.

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SONNET XCIV. · Anna Seward · Poetry Cove