To labour, pain, and trouble born,
Weapon, nor wing, nor sleight hath he;
Yet, like the sun, he brings his morn,
And is a king from infancy.
For, him no destiny hath bound
To do what others did before,
Pace the same dull perennial round,
And be a man, and be no more:
A man?—a self-will'd piece of earth,
Just as the lion is, by birth;
To hunt his prey, to wake, to sleep,
His father's joys and sorrows share,
His niche in Nature's temple keep,
And leave his likeness in his heir!-
No; infinite the shades between
The motley millions of our race;
No two the changing moon hath seen
Alike in purpose, or in face;
Yet all aspire beyond their fate;
The least, the meanest, would be great;
The mighty future fills the mind,
That pants for more than earth can give;
Man, to this narrow sphere confined,
Dies when he but begins to live.
Oh! if there be no world on high
To yield his powers unfetter'd scope;
If man be only born to die,
Whence this inheritance of hope?
Wherefore to him alone were lent
Riches that never can be spent?
Enough, not more, to all the rest,
For life and happiness, was given;
To man, mysteriously unblest,
Too much for any state but heaven.
It is not thus ;-it cannot be,
That one so gloriously endow'd
With views that reach eternity,
Should shine and vanish like a cloud:
Is there a God !-all Nature shows
There is, and yet no mortal knows :
The mind that could this truth conceive,
Which brute sensation never taught,
No longer to the dust would cleave,
But grow immortal with the thought.
YOUTH, fond youth! to thee, in life's gay morning, New and wonderful are heaven and earth; Health the hills, content the fields adorning, Nature rings with melody and mirth;
Love invisible, beneath, above,
Conquers all things; all things yield to love.
Time, swift time, from years their motion stealing,
Unperceived hath sober manhood brought;
Truth, her pure and humble forms revealing,
Peoples fancy's fairy-land with thought;
Then the heart, no longer prone to roam,
Loves, loves best, the quiet bliss of home.
Age, old age, in sickness, pain, and sorrow,
Creeps with lengthening shadow o'er the scene;
Life was yesterday, 'tis death to-morrow,
And to-day the agony between:
Then how longs the weary soul for thee,
Bright and beautiful eternity!
THERE is a calm for those who weep,
A rest for weary pilgrims found,
They softly lie and sweetly sleep
Low in the ground.
The storm that wrecks the winter sky
No more disturbs their deep repose,
Than summer-evening's latest sigh
That shuts the rose.
I long to lay this painful head
And aching heart beneath the soil,
To slumber in that dreamless bed
From all my toil.
For misery stole me at my birth,
And cast me helpless on the wild :
I perish ;—O my Mother Earth
Take home thy Child.
On thy dear lap these limbs reclined
Shall gently moulder into thee;
Nor leave one wretched trace behind
Hark!—a strange sound affrights mine ear;
My pulse, my brain runs wild,—I rave;
-Ah! who art thou whose voice I hear?
"I am THE GRAVE!
"The GRAVE, that never spake before, Hath found at length a tongue to chide; O listen!-I will speak no more :—
"Art thou a WRETCH of hope forlorn,
The victim of consuming care?
Is thy distracted conscience torn
By fell despair?
"Do foul misdeeds of former times
Wring with remorse thy guilty breast?
And ghosts of unforgiven crimes
"Lash'd by the furies of the mind,
From Wrath and Vengeance wouldst thou flee? Ah! think not, hope not, fool, to find
"By all the terrors of the tomb,
Beyond the power of tongue to tell;
By the dread secrets of my womb;
By Death and Hell;
"I charge thee, LIVE!-repent and pray;
In dust thine infamy deplore;
There yet is mercy;-go thy way,
"Art thou a MOURNER?-Hast thou known The joy of innocent delights,
Endearing days for ever flown,
And tranquil nights?
“O LIVE !—————and deeply cherish still
The sweet remembrance of the past:
Rely on Heaven's unchanging will
For peace at last.
"Art thou a wANDERER?-Hast thou seen
O'erwhelming tempests drown thy bark?
A shipwreck'd sufferer hast thou been,
"Though long of winds and waves the sport,
Condemn'd in wretchedness to roam,
LIVE!-thou shalt reach a sheltering port,
A quiet home.
"TO FRIENDSHIP didst thou trust thy fame, And was thy friend a deadly foe,
Who stole into thy breast to aim
‘LIVE !—and repine not o'er his loss, A loss unworthy to be told:
Thou hast mistaken sordid dross
For friendship's gold.
"Seek the true treasure, seldom found,
Of power the fiercest griefs to calm,
And soothe the bosom's deepest wound
With heavenly balm.
"Did WOMAN's charms thy youth beguile,
And did the Fair One faithless prove?
Hath she betray'd thee with a smile,
And sold thy love?
"LIVE!-'Twas a false bewildering fire:
Too often Love's insidious dart
Thrills the fond soul with wild desire,
"Thou yet shalt know, how sweet, how dear
To gaze on listening Beauty's eye;
To ask, and pause in hope and fear
Till she reply.
"A nobler flame shall warm thy breast,
A brighter maiden faithful prove;
Thy youth, thine age, shall yet be blest
In woman's love.
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