Anna Seward

Sonnet 73. He who a tender long-lov'd Wife survives

           TRANSLATION.

He who a tender long-lov'd Wife survives,
    Sees himself sunder'd from the only mind
    Whose hopes, and fears, and interests, were combin'd,
    And blended with his own.—No more she lives!
No more, alas! her death-numb'd ear receives
    His thoughts, that trace the Past, or anxious wind
    The Future's darkling maze!—His wish refin'd,
    The wish to please, exists no more, that gives
The will its energy, the nerves their tone!—
    He feels the texture of his quiet torn,
    And stopt the settled course that Action drew;
Life stands suspended—motionless—till thrown
    By outward causes, into channels new;—
    But, in the dread suspense, how sinks the Soul forlorn!