[Page 21]

NETLEY ABBEY.

1 Fall'n pile! I ask not what has been thy fate;
2 But when the winds, slow wafted from the main,
3 Through each rent arch, like spirits that complain,
4 Come hollow to my ear, I meditate
5 On this world's passing pageant, and the lot
6 Of those who once majestic in their prime
7 Stood smiling at decay, till bowed by time
8 Or injury, their early boast forgot,
9 They may have fall'n like thee! Pale and forlorn,
10 Their brow, besprent with thin hairs, white as snow,
11 They lift, still unsubdued, as they would scorn
12 This short-lived scene of vanity and woe;
13 Whilst on their sad looks smilingly they bear
14 The trace of creeping age, and the pale hue of care!

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Title (in Source Edition): NETLEY ABBEY.
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Genres: sonnet

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Bowles, William Lisle, 1762-1850. The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. I. With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 9 North Bank Street..., 1855, p. 21.  (Page images digitized from a copy held at the University of California Libraries.)

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Other works by William Lisle Bowles