By the blue taper's trembling light,
No more I waste the wakeful night,
Intent with endless view to pore
Their schoolmen and the fages o'er:
Their books from wisdom widely stray,
Or point at beft the longest way.
I'll feek a readier path and go
Where wisdom's furely taught below.
How deep yon azure dyes the sky !
Where orbs of gold unnumber'd lie,
While through their ranks in filver pride
The nether crefcent seems to glide.
The flumb'ring breeze forgets to breath,
The lake is smooth and clear beneath,
Where once again the spangled show
Defcends to meet our eyes below.
The grounds which on the right aspire,
In dimnefs from the view retire;
The left prefents a place of graves,
Whose walls the filent water laves,
That steeple guides thy doubtful fight
Among the livid gleams of night.
There pass with melancholy state,
By all the folemn heaps of fate,
And think as foftly-fad you tread
Above the venerable dead,
Time was, like thee they life poffeft,
And time shall be, that thou shall reft.
Those graves with bending ofier bound, That nameless heave the crumbled ground, Quick to the glancing thought disclose, Where toil and poverty repose.
The flat smooth ftones that bear a name, (The chiffel's flender help to fame, Which ere our fet of friends decay, Their frequent fteps may wear away ;) A middle race of mortals own, Men half ambitious, all unknown.
The marble tombs that rise on high,
Whose dead in vaulted arches lie,
Whose pillars fwell with sculptur'd stones,
Arms, angels, epitaphs, and bones,
These, all the poor remains of state,
Adorn the rich, or praise the great;
Who, while on earth, in fame they live,
Are fenfeiefs of the fame they give.
Ha! while I gaze, pale Cynthia fades, The bursting earth unveils the shades!
All flow, and wan, and wrapp'd with shrouds, They rife in vifionary crouds,
And all with fober accent cry,
Think, mortal, what it is to die!
Now from yon black and fun'ral yew
That bathes the charnel houfe with dew,
Methinks I hear a voice begin;
(Ye ravens, cease your croaking din,
Ye tolling clocks, no time refound
O'er the long lake and midnight ground)
It fends a peal of hollow groans,
Thus fpeaking from among the bones.
When men my scythe and darts fapply,
How great a king of fears am I !
They view me like the last of things;
They make, and then they dread my ftings.
Fools! if you lefs provok'd your fears,
No more my fpe&re-form appears.
Death's but a path that must be trod,
If man would ever pass to GoD:
A port of calms, a state of ease
From the rough rage of fwelling seas.
Why then thy flowing fable ftoles, Deep pendent cypress, mourning poles, Loose scarfs to fall athwart thy weeds, Long palls, drawn bearses, cover'd steeds, And plumes of black, that as they tread, Nod o'er the fcutcheons of the dead?
Nor can the parted body know, Nor wants the foul thofe forms of woe: As men who long in prifon dwell, With lamps that glimmer round the cell, Whene'er their fuffering years are run, Spring forth to greet the glitt'ring fun : Such joy, though far tranfcending fenfe, Have pious fouls at parting hence. On earth, and in the body plac'd, A few and evil years, they waste ; But when their chains are caft afide, See the glad fcene unfolding wide, Clap the glad wing, and tow'r away, And mingle with the blaze of day.
YE nymphs of Solyma! begin the fong:
To heav'nly themes fublimer strains belong.
The moffy fountains, and the fylvan fhades,
The dreams of Pindus and th' Aonian maids,
Delight no more- -O thou my voice infpire,
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire!
Wrapt into future times the bard begun,
A virgin fhall conceive, a virgin bear a Son!
From Jeffe's root behold a branch arise,
Whose facred flow'r with fragrance fills the fkies:
Th' æthereal Spirit o'er its leaves fhall move,
And on its top descend the mystic dove.
Ye heavens from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in foft filence fhed the kindly shower!
The fick and weak, the healing plant fhall aid,
From ftorms a shelter, and from heat a fhade.
All crimes fhall ceafe, and ancient fraud fhall fail;
Returning juftice lift aloft her scale;
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-rob'd innocence from heaven defcend.
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