Page images
PDF
EPUB

Shedied," the confcious, whispering winds reply, And I (unhappy father!) faw her die! I faw her die !-Can I the deed forgive? How can I bear to say I did—and live!

Tho' long her reason fuffer'd an eclipse,
No finful word proceeded from her lips;
Tho' fore opprefs'd with agonizing pain,
She utter'd nothing indiscreet, or vain ;
Which gives me hopes her foul was wash'd from sin,
And grace abounding was at work within.

Whilft nature yet maintain❜d a doubtful strife,
And death fat brooding on the verge of life;
Even then-when all the hopes of life were fled,
I and the angels waiting round her bed,
(They to conduct her to the realms of day,
And I, to weep, to figh, to mourn, to pray)
I kifs'd her lips, I wip'd her dying face,
And took the father's and the nurse's place;
With bleeding heart I heard her dying groans,
And met with equal agony, her moans;
Each figh was as a dagger in my heart,
We knew we must, but oh! were loth to part!
I mourn'd, I wept, I gave a loofe to grief,
And had recourse to all things for relief;
But all in vain-the laft effort I make,
I gave-but oh! she had not strength to take:
Her fluttering pulse with intermiffion play'd,
And then her heart its palpitation stay'd;
And thus thro' all the forms of death fhe past,
'Till with a figh she gently breath'd her last.

[blocks in formation]

But who can paint the horror, or the power
Of nature's conflict in fo dark an hour?
The wound was fuch, that time can never heal,
No balm can cure it, and no art conceal.
May that fad day be banish'd from the year,
Or cloath'd in fable, if it muft appear!
Or, may the fun withdraw his beams at noon,
And folid darkness veil the ftars and moon!
May all the fands be ftagnant in the glafs,
And (as that hour returns) refuse to pass!
All clocks be dumb, and time forget to fly,
And may all nature be as fad as I!

Let mourning in its blackeft drefs appear!
And fhe be never nam'd, without a tear!

Oh! where are now thofe dear obedient hands,
So pleas'd to execute my whole commands?
Where are thofe feet, fo early taught to run,
As lightning fwift, unwearied as the fun?
Where now thofe arms, that with fuch paffion ftrove
To clafp my neck, and ftifle me with love?
Where now thofe lips, where mine were fond to dwell,
Or where that breath, that ravifh'd with the fmell? →
Where is that tongue, whose prattle charm'd mine
Where fled the hopes of my declining years? [ears?
Where is that face, so pleasant when the fmil'd?
Or where's the woman acting in the child?
Where thofe dear eyes, that with fuch fweetness fhone?
Or rather, where are all my comforts gone?
Where is that heart, fo near to truth allied,
That never difobey'd-but when he died?

Where

Where is that breaft, where virtue once did grow,
As roses sweet, and white as falling fnow?
They're buried all in the voracious grave,

Where kings are levell'd with the meanest flave.
The wife and great, when there they make their bed,
Are equall'd with the wretch that begs his bread;
But there the wicked can no more oppress,
And there the weary find a calm recefs;
And this does all my expectations crown,
That I to her fhall there go quickly down.
Till then, this hope fhall mitigate my woe,
And dry those tears that now profusely flow;
That when by heaven's command I quit the ftage,
Bow'd down by time, and quite fatigued with age;
My bones fhall reft in quiet by her fide,
Like a fond bridegroom sleeping by his bride;
'Till the last day fhall both to life restore,
When death fhall die, and time fhall be no more.
This distant view does equal pleasure give,
As now my foul is confcious that I live.

And thou that once waft my delight and pride,
In whom I hop'd to have a nurse and guide,
When feeble age fhould bow my hoary head,
And pain or fickness fix me to my bed;
If I may, guiltlefs, call upon thy name,
And ask a boon, without incurring blame;
Tho' thou art happy now amongst the blest,
Indulge thy mourning father's last request.

When fome kind angel from this world below
Shall bring the news (for fure the angels know)
F 4

And

And shall to thee and kindred spirits tell,
That mine has orders to forfake her fhell;
And be transplanted to the realms of light,
Where faith and hope are swallow'd up in fight;
Do thou with heavenly raptures meet my ghost,
On th' utmost limits of that happy coaft;
And thence attend me to the throne of grace,
To view my Saviour's reconciled face;
And taste of joys ineffable and new,
Till then, my little faint, adieu, adieu.

A FEW LINES

WRITTEN AFTER THE SHOCK OF AN EARTH

QUAKE.

ET while we live, what gratitude we owe!

YE

God, tho' provok'd, with-holds the final blow; That dreadful fhock, which, felt thro' every vein, Shall back to chaos give this earth again.

He warns us now, when, at the close of day,
He bids the fky his fiery arch display;
With deep convulfions makes the ocean boil,
And rocks beneath our feet the trembling foil.
As yet, paternal, he but shakes his rod,
But who can bear th' inexorable GOD,
When (fcorn'd his mercy) wearied with abufe,
He quits the reins, and lets his fury loose?
Thro' space immenfe then discord will be hurl'd,
And each convulfive fhock diffolve a WORLD.

R E

REDEMPTION.

I

A POEM.

BY HENRY BROOKE, ESQ

T comes; the wifh'd, the long expected morn

Thou SON OF MAN, thou SON OF GOD, be born? Lo, he descends, and bows the yielding skies; To meet him, the exulting valleys rife : Death shrinks and trembles, fearing to be flain;' And all hell quakes, throughout its deep domain. Yet comes he not, array'd in worldly show, Nor in the weakness of man's power below: In human flesh, his GODHEAD he conceals; In human form, IMMENSITY he veils s; Eternal, he affumes a mortal frame; And, in fubjection, lo, the world's SUPREME!

[ocr errors]

'Tis come; the day of health, the faving morn THE SON OF GOD, THE BABE OF LOVE is born! Behold, all heaven defcends upon the wing, And choiring angels Glory, Glory!" fing, "Glory to GOD, from whom fuch bounties flow! "And peace on earth, good-will to man below!" "Tidings we bring, glad tidings of free grace, "Tidings of joy to all of human race! "The promis'd day is come, the great event"To you a child is born, a fon is fent; "A Saviour, CHRIST, the lowly, the fupreme, "Gracious to pardon, mighty to redeem !

" Within

« PreviousContinue »