AIL! filken Somnus, balmy pow'r !
H Round me Lethean poppies fhed;
And in the still, nocturnal hour,
Be kindly near thy fuppliant's bed!
My aching eye lids lave and steep
In the oblivious dew of Sleep,
And hufh to reft corroding Care:
For long continued, wakeful thought,
Would fret the web fair Fancy wrought,
And health's gay bloom impair.
On downy wings my call attend,
The eafy wifh'd for boon beftow;
And be not thou the faithlefs friend,
That ftudious flies from fights of woe!
With fibres lax, lethargic will,
And liftlefs fenfe, I court thee ftill,
Yet more than half awake remain:
In drowsy watchfulnefs I pant,
Nor one fair vifit wilt thou grant
The poet and his pain!
Deep skill'd in Epicurean lore,
And prompt to wind in pleasure's maze, Till fated appetite's no more,
And loathing comes a thoufand ways; The reas'ning brute, with follies fir'd, When to the couch of down retir'd,
His restless hours may curfe and weep ! But Temp❜rance, with unclouded mien, The paffions calm, and foul ferene, Be bleft with kindlieft Sleep!
Where coward Guilt, with pale affright,
Draws close his curtains, lean and gaunt,
Let all the spectres of the night
His black imagination haunt!
Let wailing widows shriek aloud,
And cheated orphans round him crowd,
Invoking curfes on his head!
Let ruin'd Innocence appear,
Grate accufations in his ear,
And shake the villain's bed!
Let wild Ambition's prideful creft
The troop of vengeful furies know;
Rooting and rankling in his breaft,
For ever working keenest woe!
Fine airy nothings, gewgaws, toys!
Be all his unfubftantial joys,
Light built upon Delufion's base!
Tiffu'd, tormenting, wakeful care,
In wild dimenfions, let him share,
Pervading nights and days!
The scepter'd wretch, the fcourge of ftate,
That fated millions dooms to bleed,
Merits, and meets with, heart-felt hate,
For ev'ry vile, atrocious deed!
The heaving bosom's boding fears,
The eye he gives to fcalding tears,
And vaffals, funk in mis'ry deep,
May well demand, that such a fiend
From Jove's red bolt be never screen'd,
Nor know the fweets of Sleep!
But oh! to those, in life's low vale,
Who humbly spend the harmless day,
Be comfort fent in ev'ry gale,
And let young flow'rets mark the way!
Where chaste affection's lambent flame,
And focial duties, have their claim,
Ye guardian angels, deign to fmile! For fuch, ye clouds, drop plenty down! Let calm content their labours crown, And Sleep repay their toil!
"TIS lift'ning fear, and dumb amazement all:
When to the ftartled eye the fudden glance
Appears far fouth, eruptive through the cloud;
And following flower, in explofion vaft,
The Thunder raifes his tremendous voice.
At first, heard folemn o'er the verge of heaven,
The tempeft growls; but, as it nearer comes,
And rolls its awful burden on the wind,
The lightnings flafh a larger curve, and more
The noise astounds; till overhead a fheet
Of livid flame difclofes wide; then fhuts,
And opens wider; fhuts and opens ftill
Expanfive, wrapping ether in a blaze.
Follows the loofen'd aggravated roar,
Enlarging, deepening, mingling; peal on peal
Crush'd horrible, convulfing heaven and earth.
Guilt hears appall'd, with deeply troubl'd thought;
And yet not always on the guilty head
Defcends the fated flafh. Young Celadon
And his Amelia were a matchless pair ;
With equal virtue form'd, and equal grace,
The fame, diftinguish'd by their fex alone:
Hers the mild luftre of the blooming morn,
And his the radiance of the risen day.
They lov'd: But fuch their guilelefs paffion was,
As in the dawn of time inform'd the heart
Of innocence, and undiffembling truth.
'Twas friendship heighten'd by the mutual wish,
Th' enchanting hope, and fympathetic glow,
Beam'd from the mutual eye. Devoting all
To love, each was to each a dearer self;
Supremely happy in th' awaken'd power
Of giving joy. Alone, amid the fhades,
Still in harmonious intercourse they liv'd
The rural day, and talk'd the flowing heart,
Or figh'd, and look'd unutterable things.
So pafs'd their life, a clear united stream,
By care unruffled: Till, in evil hour,
The tempeft caught them on the tender walk,
Heedlefs how far, and where its mazes ftray'd,
While, with each other bleft, créative love
Still bade eternal Eden smile around.
Heavy with inftant fate, her bofom heav'd
Unwonted fighs, and stealing oft a look
Tow'ards the big gloom, on Celadon her eye
Fell tearful, wetting her diforder'd cheek.
In vain affuring love, and confidence
In Heaven, reprefs'd her fear; it grew, and shook
Her frame near diffolution. He perceiv'd
Th' unequal conflict, and as angels look
On dying faints, his eyes compaffion fhed,
With love illumin'd high. "Fear not," he faid,
"Sweet innocence! thou ftranger to offence,
"And inward storm! HE, who yon fkies involves
"In frowns of darkness, ever smiles on thee
"With kind regard. O'er thee the secret shaft
"That wastes at midnight, or th' undreaded hour
"Of noon, flies harmlefs; and that very voice,
"Which thunders terror thro' the guilty heart,
"With tongues of feraphs whispers peace to thine.
""Tis fafety to be near thee, fure, and thus
"To clasp perfection !"-From his void embrace,
(Mysterious heaven!) that moment, to the ground,
A blacken'd corfe, was ftruck the beauteous maid.
But who can paint the lover, as he stood,
Pierc'd by fevere amazement, hating life,
Speechlefs, and fix'd in all the death of woe!
So, faint resemblance! on the marble tomb,
The well-diffembled mourner stooping stands,
For ever filent, and for ever fad.
ET not the hand of Amity be nice!
tribute of the heart disclaim;
A trifle fhall become a pledge of price,
If Friendship stamp it with her facred name.
The little rofe that laughs upon its stem,
One of the sweets with which the gardens teem, In value foars above an eastern gem,
If tender'd as the token of esteem.
Had I vaft hoards of maffy wealth to fend,
Such as your merits might demand-their due!
Then should the golden tribute of your friend
Rival the treasures of the rich Peru.
|