poem: Rest
On two sides of a single sheet manuscript in Eliza Ogilvy's hand, the poem was discovered in a steel strong box. The date is written at the foot, "June 21st 1869 W.E.A.’s birthday".
Eliza’s last known meeting with William Aytoun was in Sydenham in 1863; he died in 1865; the poem, previously unpublished, was written two years later in a moment of creative crisis, and it appears to be a dialogue with William. There is a commentary on the poem in Chapter 13, The Lovers: Eliza Ogilvy and William Aytoun.
Rest
And my heart is sore and vext
And my mind with dread perplext
Sin or suffering - which comes next?
Let me rest!
Vainly would I upward climb
Stumbling back from time to time
In the slough of worldly grime
Let me rest!
Vainly have I heaped up lore
Hoping thus to err no more
No whit wiser than before
Let me rest!
Through the long years thou hast given
Turn by turn I’ve struck and striven
Evil’s bond not yet is riven
Let me rest!
Could I hope one deed to do
Complete in thy sight and true
Not as now with tears I’d sue.
Let me rest!
Let me Work! Then would I claim —
Let me fight for God’s high name
Now I can but plead with shame
Let me rest!
Take thine ill-used Gifts again
Aching nerve and throbbing vein
Panting heart, exhausted brain,
Let me rest!
Not alone by Pagan grave
Lethe rolls her opiate wave
With her streams my Spirit lave
Let me rest!
Let me lie beneath thy hand
Lulled in Deaths dim cradle land
Till thy Trumpets loud command
breaks all rest
June 21st 1869
W.E.A.’s birthday
© William Owen 2026 - All rights reserved
