Address to the WEST WIND Written at Park Gate Sept:
Address
to the
WEST WIND
Written at Park Gate
Sept:r 1805. [1]
"Breathe, balmy spirit of the West,
"Why are thy gales so long delayed?
"Why must this lacerated breast
"Vainly invoke thy lenient aid?
"For thee I stayed thro' wintry hours5
"In patient long captivity,
"And while stern Eurus lingring lours [2]
"Still blighted spring's chill'd touch I flee.
"Play round this drooping brow once more,
"And gently kiss this fevered cheek,10
"To life, to liberty restore
"And hope, and health returning speak."
Thus have I oft with fruitless prayer
Wooed the mild Zephyr's tardy wing, [3]
Languished to taste the fresh, pure air,15
The promised, healing breath of Spring.
Then wooed in vain! perversely now
Why send us here unwelcome gales?
Why must no breeze in Heaven but thou
Cling fondly to our fettered sails?20
Mild as thou art, thy prisoner still
I droop by thee unblest, confined,
To me unfriendly feel thy will
Absent or present still unkind
Go to the couch where languid pain25
Gasping invokes thy clement power,
Go sport mid Flora's glowing train
Or sigh o'er young Love's myrtle bower.
Soon will I hail thee welcome, kind,
And bid thee, on thy pinions, bear30
To friends so dear, I left behind,
The kiss of love affection's tear.
Close in thy chambers of the West,
Mid spicy sweets luxurious lie,
Or watch near the beloved's breast35
To steal the perfume of a sigh
But hie thee hence! & thou my foe,
Whose fatal blasts I dread no more,
For once propitious East wind blow,
And waft us to our isle's green shore.40
Notes
[1] EDITOR'S NOTE: "Address to the West Wind Written at Park Gate Sept:r 1805" does not appear in Psyche, with Other Poems or Mary; Henry and Lucy Moore include a copy of it from Verses in their 1811 Album (the source text for Collected Poems and Journals). The Tighes left England for Ireland in September 1805. BACK
