Sonett-Forum

Fate has much compensation sometimes giv'n
To those on whom malignant stars have shone,
Who o'er life's stormy ocean still are riv'n,
Drifting like a frail bark drearily on,

As Suffolk's lord, falling from height of pow'r,
E'en as a meteor o'er the darken'd void,
With valour shed upon the darkest hour,
More glory than when all his greatness buoy'd ;

And when the bright-soul'd Raleigh felt the shock
Of hostile destiny, the genial mind
Firmer than is tho tempest-compass'd rock
Illumin'd with fair genius still could find
An enviable equivalent, as when
Lovely Cornelia bless'd the favor'd—only then.