I Pale Famine moans with feeble breath, see, III. 3. What scenes of glory rise Before my dazzled eyes! Young Zephyrs wave their wanton wings, All blooming on the lawn the nymphs advance, And the blithe shepherds on the mountain's side, Array'd in all their rural pride, Exalt the festive note, Inviting Echo from her inmost grot— But ah! the landscape glows with fainter light; It darkens, swims, and flies for ever from my sight. IV. 1. Illusions vain! Can sacred Peace reside Where sordid gold the breast alarms, Where Cruelty inflames the eye of Pride, And Grandeur wantons in soft Pleasure's arms! Ambition, these are thine! These from the soul erase the form divine, And quench the animating fire. That warms the bosom with sublime desire. Thence the relentless heart forgets to feel, And Hatred triumphs on th' o'erwhelming brow, And midnight Rancour grasps the cruel steel, Blaze the blue flames of death, and sound the shrieks of Woe. IV. 2. From Albion fled, thy once belov'd retreat, Waked by thy genial breath, the balmy rose? Does life inform fell Lybia's burning sand? Or does some isle thy parting flight detain, Where roves the Indian through primeval shades, Haunts the pure pleasures of the sylvan reign, And led by reason's light the path of nature treads? IV. 3. On Cuba's utmost steep 1, Far leaning o'er the deep, The Goddess' pensive form was seen. 1 This alludes to the discovery of America by the Spaniards under Columbus. Those ravagers are said to have made their first descent on the islands in the Gulf of Florida, of which Cuba is one Wav'd on the gale; grief dimm'd her radiant eyes; Her bosom heav'd with boding sighs. She ey'd the main; where, gaining on the view, Emerging from th' ethereal blue, Midst the dread pomp of war, Blaz'd the Iberian streamer from afar. She saw; and, on refulgent pinions borne, Slow wing'd her way sublime, and mingled with the morn. THE TRIUMPH OF MELANCHOLY. MEMORY, be still! why throng upon the thought These scenes so deeply-stain'd with Sorrow's dye? Is there in all thy stores no cheerful draught, Yes-from afar a landscape seems to rise, Embellish'd by the lavish hand of Spring; Thin gilded clouds float lightly o'er the skies, And laughing Loves disport on fluttering wing. How blest the youth in yonder valley laid! Hail Innocence! whose bosom, all serene, Vain wish! for lo, in gay attire conceal'd, Yonder she comes-the heart-inflaming fiend! Will no kind power the helpless stripling shield? Swift to her destin'd prey see Passion bend! O smile accurs'd, to hide the worst designs! And, instant, lo, his dizzy eyeball swims Ghastly, and reddening darts a frantic glare; Pain with strong grasp distorts his writhing limbs, And Fear's cold hand erects his frozen hair! Is this, O life, is this thy boasted prime? And does thy spring no happier prospect yield? Why should the sunbeam paint thy glittering clime, When the keen mildew desolates the field? How memory pains! Let some gay theme beguile The musing mind, and soothe to soft delight; Ye images of woe, no more recoil; Be life's past scenes wrapt in oblivious night. Now when fierce Winter, arm'd with wasteful power, Heaves the wild deep that thunders from afar, How sweet to sit in this sequester'd bower, To hear, and but to hear, the mingling war! Ambition here displays no gilded toy That tempts on desperate wing the soul to rise, Nor Pleasure's paths to wilds of woe decoy, Nor Anguish lurks in Grandeur's proud disguise. Oft has Contentment cheer'd this lone abode With the mild languish of her smiling eye; Here Health in rosy bloom has often glow'd, While loose-robed Quiet stood enamour'd by. Even the storm lulls to more profound repose; The storm these humble walls assails in vain: The shrub is shelter'd when the whirlwind blows, While the oak's mighty ruin strows the plain. Blow on, ye winds! Thine, Winter, be the skies. And toss th' infuriate surge, and vales lay waste: Nature thy temporary rage defies; To her relief the gentler Seasons haste. Thron'd in her emerald car see Spring appear! (As Fancy wills, the landscape starts to view;) Her emerald-car the youthful Zephyrs bear, Fanning her bosom with their pinions blue. |