| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | V. Winter Evening at Home | | By William Lisle Bowles (1762–1850) |
| | | FAIR Moon! that at the chilly day’s decline | |
| Of sharp December, through my cottage pane | |
| Dost lovely look, smiling, though in thy wane; | |
| In thought to scenes serene and still as thine | |
| Wanders my heart, whilst I by turns survey | 5 |
| Thee slowly wheeling on thy evening way, | |
| And this my fire, whose dim, unequal light, | |
| Just glimmering, bids each shadowy image fall | |
| Sombrous and strange upon the darkening wall, | |
| Ere the clear tapers chase the deepening night! | 10 |
| Yet thy still orb, seen through the freezing haze, | |
| Shines calm and clear without; and whilst I gaze, | |
| I think, Around me in this twilight gloom | |
| I but remark mortality’s sad doom; | |
| Whilst hope and joy, cloudless and soft, appear | 15 |
| In the sweet beam that lights thy distant sphere. | | | | |
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