“OH WHAT A WRECK! HOW CHANGED IN MIEN AND SPEECH!”
Composed 1835.—Published 1838
[The sad condition of poor Mrs. Southey[55] put me upon writing this. It has afforded comfort to many persons whose friends have been similarly affected.—I.F.]
One of the “Miscellaneous Sonnets.”—Ed.
Oh what a Wreck! how changed in mien and speech!
Yet—though dread Powers, that work in mystery, spin
Entanglings of[56] the brain; though shadows stretch
O’er the chilled heart—reflect; far, far within
Hers is a holy Being, freed from Sin. 5
She is not what she seems, a forlorn wretch,
But delegated Spirits comfort fetch
To Her from heights that Reason may not win.
Like Children, She is privileged to hold
Divine communion;[57] both do live and move, 10
Whate’er to shallow Faith their ways unfold,
Inly illumined by Heaven’s pitying love;
Love pitying innocence not long to last,
In them—in Her our sins and sorrows past.
[55] Mrs. Southey died 16th November 1837. She had long been an invalid. See Southey’s Life and Correspondence, vol. vi. p. 347.—Ed.
[56] 1842.
… for …
1838.
[57] Compare a remark of Wordsworth’s that he never saw those with mind unhinged, but he thought of the words, “Life hid in God.” It is a curious oriental belief that idiots are in closer communion with the Infinite than the sane are.—Ed.