The SONS of GENIUS.

Bright bursting thro' the awful veil of night
The lunar beams upon the ocean play,
The watry billows shine with trembling light
Where the swift breezes skim along the sea.

The glimmering stars in yon etherial plain
Grow pale and fade before the lucid beams
Save where fair Venus shining oe'r the main
Conspicuous still with fainter radiance gleams.

Clear is the azure firmament above,

Save where the white cloud floats

upon the breeze, All tranquil is the bosom of the grove

Save where the Zephyr warbles thro' the trees.

Now the poor shepherd wandering to his home

Surveys the darkening scene with fearful eye, On every green sees little Elfins roam

And haggard Sprites along the moon-beams fly.

Whilst Superstition rules the vulgar soul,
Forbids the energies of man to rise,
Rais'd far above her low, her mean controul,
Aspiring Genius seeks her native skies.

She loves the silent solitary hours,

She loves the stillness of the starry night, When o'er the brightening view Selene pours The soft effulgence of her pensive light.

"Tis then disturb'd not by the glare of day To mild tranquillity alone resign'd,

Reason extends her animating sway

O'er the calm empire of the peaceful mind.

Before her lucid all-enlightening ray,

The pallid Spectres of the night retire, She drives the gloomy terrors far away And fills the bosom with celestial fire.

Inspired by her the sons of Genius rise

Above all earthly thoughts, all vulgar care, Wealth, power and grandeur, they alike despise,

Enraptur'd by the good, the great, the fair.

A thousand varying joys to them belong

The charms of Nature and her changeful scenes, Theirs is the music of the vernal song

And theirs the colors of the vernal plains.

Theirs is the purple-tinged evening ray
With all the radiance of the morning sky,
Theirs is the splendour of the risen day

Enshrined in glory by the sun's bright eye.

For them the zephyr fans the odorous dale,
For them the warbling streamlet softly flows,
For them the Dryads shade the verdant vale,
To them sweet Philomel attunes her woes.

To them no wakeful moon-beam shines in vain
On the dark bosom of the trackless wood,
Sheds its mild radiance o'er the desart plain
Or softly glides along the chrystal flood,

Yet not alone delight the soft and fair

Alike the grander scenes of Nature move, Yet not alone her beauties claim their care, The great, sublime and terrible, they love.

The sons of Nature they alike delight
In the rough precipices broken steep,
In the black terrors of the stormy night,
And in the thunders of the threatening deep;

When the red ligtnings thro' the ether fly,
And the white foaming billows lash the shores,
When to the rattling thunders of the sky
The angry Dæmon of the waters roars.

And when untouch'd by Nature's living fires
No native rapture fills the drowsy soul,
Then former ages with their tuneful lyres
Can bid the fury of the passions fall.

By the blue taper's melancholy light

Whilst all around the midnight torrents pour, And awful glooms beset the face of night They wear the silent solitary hour.

Ah then, how sweet to pass the night away
In silent converse with the Grecian page,
Whilst Homer tunes his ever-living lay,

Or Reason listens to the Athenian sage.

To scan the laws of Nature, to explore
The tranquil reign of mild Philosophy,
Or on Newtonian wings sublime to soar
Thro' the bright regions of the starry sky.

Ah! who can paint what raptures fill the soul
When Attic Freedom rises to the war,

Bids the loud thunders of the battle roll

And drives the Tyrant trembling from her shore ?

From these pursuits the Sons of Genius scan
The end of their creation, hence they know
The fair, sublime, immortal hopes of man

From whence alone undying pleasures flow.

By science calm'd, over the peaceful soul,
Bright with eternal wisdom's lucid ray,
Peace, meek of eye, extends her soft controul,
And drives the fury passions far away.

Virtue, the daughter of the skies supreme,
Directs their life, informs their glowing lays,

A steady friend, her animating beam

Sheds its soft lustre o'er their latter days.

G.