O thou, whose stern command

"O thou, whose stern command" is an sonnet published in 1789 by William Lisle Bowles as the third poem in his "Fourteen Sonnets" cycle.

Original text
SONNET III. O thou, whose stern command and precepts pure (Tho' agony in every vein should start, And slowly drain the blood-drops from the heart) Have bade the patient spirit still endure; Thou, who to sorrow hast a beauty lent, On the dark brow, with resolution clad, Illumining the dreary traces sad, Like the cold taper on a monument; O firm Philosophy! display the tide Of human misery, and oft relate How silent sinking in the storms of fate, The brave and good have bow'd their head and died. So taught by Thee, some solace I may find, Remembering the sorrows of mankind.