O Time! who know'st a lenient hand to lay'Time heals all wounds' (hardly the most original topic for a poem); with what looks like a Shakespearean twist ending in the final couplet. Except that: the final couplet does not so much provide a 'turn' on the sentiments expressed in the main body of the poem as a complete departure from it. It's as if the speaker of the last two lines hasn't been listening to the rest of the text: 'time heals all wounds; but it'll be a cold day in hell before I get any sexual reciprocity from you, you tease!' amounts to a non-sequitur.
Softest on sorrow's wounds, and slowly thence,
(Lulling to sad repose the weary sense)
The faint pang stealest unperceiv'd away;
On Thee I rest my only hope at last,
And think, when thou hast dried the bitter tear
That flows in vain o'er all my soul held dear,
I may look back on many a sorrow past,
And meet life's peaceful evening with a smile—
As some lone bird, at day's departing hour,
Sings in the sunbeam of the transient shower,
Forgetful, tho' its wings are wet the while:—
Yet ah! how much must that poor heart endure,
Which hopes from thee, and thee alone, a cure!
Still, the simile of the songbird at evening is quite nice:
As some lone bird, at day's departing hour,I suppose the meaning is: it has been raining, and will rain again, but the downpour has stopped briefly and the sun has come out, which fills the (wet) bird with happiness. Which is fair enough, although the phrase 'the sunbeam of the transient shower' creates a nice frisson, as if it is raining and sunny at the same time. That sometimes happens! It is rainbow weather!
Sings in the sunbeam of the transient shower,
Forgetful, tho' its wings are wet the while:
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