The stranger hunts with spite quintessent,
And snarls, from that day to the present.
THE WORSHIP OF THE GIBEONITES.
Now o'er the hills red streams began to burn,
And bursting splendors usher'd in the morn;
With living dyes the flowers all beauteous glow'd,
O'er the glad fields etherial odors flow'd;
The forest echoed with a boundless song,
And rising breezes pour'd the strains along.
Adorn'd with green before the palace lay
A spacious square, and smiled upon the day.
Here, ere the dawn the kindling skies illumed,
Or opening flowers the fragrant gales perfumed,
Of every age, a vast, assembled train
Pour'd from the lofty domes, and fill'd the plain.
High in the midst two sacred altars shone,
Adorn'd with honors to their God, the Sun.
This, deck'd with art, and bright in royal pride,
With sable gore the quivering victim dyed:
On that, gay flowers in rich profusion lay,
And gales of Eden bore their sweets away.
Here, white with age, in snowy vesture dress'd,
Aradon stood, their monarch, and their priest;
Red in his hand a torch refulgent shone,
And his fix'd countenance watch'd the rising sun.
When first the flaming orb, with glorious rays,
Roll'd o'er the hills, and pour'd a boundless blaze;
Charmed at the sight, the monarch stretch'd his hand,
And touch'd the tributes with the sacred brand;
Through freshen'd air perfumes began to rise,
And curling volumes mounted to the skies.
Thrice to the earth the raptured suppliants bow'd,
Then struck the lyre, and hymn'd the rising god.
"O thou, whose bursting beams in glory rise,
And sail, and brighten, through unbounded skies!
The world's great Parent! heaven's exalted King!
Sole source of good! and life's eternal Spring!
All hail, while cloth'd in beauty's endless ray,
Thy face unclouded gives the new-born day!
Above all scenes is placed thy heavenly throne;
Ere time began, thy spotless splendor shone ;
Sublime from east to west thy chariot rolls,
Cheers the wide earth, and warms the distant poles;
Commands the vegetable race to grow,
The fruit to redden, and the flower to blow.
This world was born to change: the hand of Time
Makes, and unmakes the scenes of
every clime.
The insect millions scarce the morn survive;
One transient day the flowery nations live;
A few short years complete the human doom;
Then pale death summons to the narrow tomb.
Lash'd by the flood, the hard rocks wear away;
Worn by the storm, the lessening hills decay;
Unchanged alone is thine exalted flame,
From endless years to endless years the same;
Thy splendors with immortal beauty shine,
Roll round the eternal heavens, and speak thy name divine. “When thy bright throne, beyond old ocean's bound, Through nether skies pursues its destined round,
Lost in the ascending darkness, beauty fades;
Through the blank field, and through the woodland, spreads A melancholy silence. O'er the plain
Dread lions roam, and savage terrors reign.
"And when sad autumn sees thy face retire,
And happier regions hail thy orient fire,
High in the storm imperious winter flies,
And desolation saddens all the skies.
But when once more thy beam the north ascends,
Thy light invigorates, and thy warmth extends;
The fields rejoice, the groves with transport ring,
And boundless nature hails the sky-born spring.
“Nor even in winter's gloom, or night's sad reign,
Darts the warm influence of thy beams in vain.
Beyond the main some fairer region lies,
Some brighter isles beneath the southern skies,
Where crimson war ne'er bade the clarion roar,
Nor sanguine billows dyed the vernal shore:
No thundering storm the day's bright face conceals,
No summer scorches, and no frost congeals;
No sickness wastes, no grief provokes the tear,
Nor tainted vapors blast the clement year.
Round the glad day-star endless beauties burn,
And crowned with rainbows, opes the imperial morn;
A clear unbounded light the skies display,
And purple lustre leads the the changing day.
O'er conscious shades, and bowers of soft repose,
Young breezes spring, and balmy fragrance blows,
The fields all wanton in serenest beams,
Wake fairer flowers, and roll diviner streams;
Through the long vales aerial music roves,
And nobler fruitage dyes the bending groves.
"Through spotless nations as the realm refined,
Thy influence there sublimes the immortal mind;
Its active pinions swift through nature roam,
Lose the low world, and claim a nobler home.
Their limbs, of endless life, with glory crown'd,
New youth improves, and growing charms surround:
On the bless'd shore thy splendors love to shine,
And raise thy sons each hour, to raptures more divine."
Thus ceased the sound: the harp's melodious strain
Join'd the glad hymn, and charm'd the listening train;
A sparkling joy each speaking face display'd,
While light expanding lessen'd every shade.
BATTLE BEFORE THE WALLS OF AI.
Now near the burning domes, the squadrons stood,
Their breasts impatient for the scenes of blood:
On every face a deathlike glimmer sate,
The unbless'd harbinger of instant fate.
High through the gloom, in pale and dreadful spires,
Rose the long terrors of the dark red fires;
Torches, and torrent sparks, by whirlwinds driven,
Stream'd through the smoke, and fired the clouded heaven.
As oft tall turrets sunk with rushing sound,
Broad flames burst forth, and swept the etherial round,
The bright expansion lightened all the scene,
And deeper shadows lengthen'd o'er the green.
Loud through the walls that cast a golden gleam,
Crown'd with tall pyramids of bending flame,
As thunders rumble down the darkening vales,
Roll'd the deep solemn voice of rushing gales:
The bands admiring gazed the wondrous sight,
And expectation trembled for the fight.
At once the sounding clarion breath'd alarms;
Wide from the forest burst the flash of arms;
Thick gleam'd the helms; and o'er astonish'd fields,
Like thousand meteors, rose the flame-bright shields.
In gloomy pomp, to furious combat roll'd
Ranks sheath'd in mail, and chiefs in glimmering gold;
In floating lustre bounds the dim-seen steed,
And cars, unfinish'd, swift to cars succeed;
From all the host ascends a dark red glare,
Here in full blaze, in distant twinklings there;
Slow waves the dreadful light; as round the shore
Night's solemn blasts with deep concussion roar,
So rush the footsteps of the embattled train,
And send an awful murmur o'er the plain.
Tall in the opposing van, bold Irad stood,
And bade the clarion sound the voice of blood.
Loud blew the trumpet on the sweeping gales,
Rock'd the deep groves, and echo'd round the vales:
A ceaseless murmur all the concave fills,
Waves through the quivering camp, and trembles o'er the hills.
High in the gloomy blaze the standards flew;
The impatient youth his burnish'd falchion drew;
Ten thousand swords his eager bands display'd,
And crimson'd terrors danced on every blade.
With equal rage, the bold, Hazorian train
Pour'd a wide deluge o'er the shadowy plain;
Loud rose the song of war; loud clanged the shields;
Dread shouts of vengeance shook the shuddering fields;
With mingled din, shrill, martial music rings,
And swift to combat each fierce hero springs.
So broad, and dark, a midnight storm ascends,
Bursts on the main, and trembling nature rends;
The red foam burns, the wat'ry mountains rise,
And deep unmeasured thunder heaves the skies;
The bark drives lonely; shivering and forlorn,
The poor, sad sailors wish the lingering morn:
Not with less fury rush'd the vengeful train ;
Not with less tumult roar'd the embattled plain.
Now in the oak's black shade they fought conceal'd;
And now they shouted through the open field;
The long, pale splendors of the curling flame
Cast o'er their polish'd arms a livid gleam;
An umber'd lustre floated round their way,
And lighted falchions to the fierce affray.
Now the swift chariots 'gainst the stubborn oak
Dash; the dark earth re-echoes to the shock.
From shade to shade the forms tremendous stream,
And their arms flash a momentary flame.
Mid hollow tombs, as fleets an airy train,
Lost in the skies, or fading o'er the plain;
So visionary shapes, around the fight,
Shoot through the gloom, and vanish from the sight;
Through twilight paths the maddening coursers bound,
The shrill swords crack, the clashing shields resound.
There, lost in grandeur, might the eye behold
The dark red glimmerings of the steel and gold,
The chief, the steed, the nimbly rushing car,
And all the horrors of the gloomy war.
Here the thick clouds, with purple lustre bright,
Spread o'er the long, long host and gradual sunk in night;
Here half the world was wrapp'd in rolling fires,
And dreadful valleys sunk between the spires.
Swift ran black forms across the livid flame,
And oaks waved slowly in the trembling beam:
Loud rose the mingled noise; with hollow sound,
Deep rolling whirlwinds roar, and thundering flames resound.
As drives a blast along the midnight heath,
Rush'd raging Irad on the scenes of death;
High o'er his shoulder gleam'd his brandish'd blade,
And scatter'd ruin round the twilight shade.
Full on a giant hero's sweeping car
He pour'd the tempest of resistless war;
His twinkling lance the heathen raised on high,
And hurl'd it, fruitless, through the gloomy sky;
From the bold youth the maddening coursers wheel,
Gash'd by the vengeance of his slaughtering steel:
"Twixt two tall oaks the helpless chief they drew;
The shrill car dash'd; the crack'd wheels rattling flew ;
Crush'd in his arms, to rise he strove in vain,
And lay unpitied on the dreary plain.
ABOVE tall western hills, the light of day
Shot far the splendors of his golden ray;
Bright from the storm with tenfold grace he smiled,
The tumult softened, and the world grew mild.
With pomp transcendent, robed in heavenly dyes,
Arch'd the clear rainbow round the orient skies;
Its changeless form, its hues of bean divine,
-Fair type of truth and beauty's-endless shine
Around the expanse, with thousand splendors rare;
Gay clouds sail'd wanton through the kindling air;
From shade to shade, unnumber'd tinctures blend;
Unnumber'd forms of wond'rous light extend:
In pride stupendous, glittering walls aspire,
Graced with bright domes, and crown'd with towers of fire,
On cliffs cliffs burn; o'er mountains mountains roll:
A burst of glory spreads from pole to pole :
Rapt with the splendor, every songster sings,
Tops the high bough, and claps his glistening wings:
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