John Stagg

Sonnet on Winter

Now comes bleak Winter wlth his ruffian band
Of big swollen tempests, billowing in his rear,
To spread wide desolation o'er the land,
And spoil the beauties of the blooming year.
Swept o'er the plain the scatter'd foliage flies,
O'er oceans deep the mighty whirlwinds roar,
And waves on waves from the invaded skies,
Are tumbl'd headlong on the sounding shore.
So when the wintry hand of age shall bind,
Life's feeble channels and arrests the body
When storms of passion agitate the mind,
And chilling death invades each vital part;
What power to quell the tumult shall pretend
Till in eternal calms these conflicts end?