Written impromptu, on reading the following passage in Mr. Capel Lofft's beautiful and interesting Preface to Nathaniel Bloomfield's Poems, just published." It has a mixture of the sportive, which deepens the impression of its melancholy close. I could have wished as I have said in a short note, the conclusion had been otherwise. The sours of life less offend my taste than its sweets delight it."
Go to the raging sea, and say, "Be still!" Bid the wild lawless winds obey thy will; Preach to the storm, and reason with Despair, But tell not Misery's son that life is fair.
Thou, who in Plenty's lavish lap hast roll'd, And every year with new delight hast told, Thou, who recumbent on the lacquer'd barge, Hast dropt down joy's gay stream of pleasant
Thou may'st extol life's calm, untroubled sea, The storms of misery never burst on thee.
Go to the mat, where squalid Want reclines, Go to the shade obscure, where Merit pines; Abide with him whom Penury's charms control, And bind the rising yearnings of his soul, Survey his sleepless couch, and standing there, Tell the poor pallid wretch that life is fair!
Press thou the lonely pillow of his head, And ask why sleep his languid eyes has fled; Mark his dew'd temples, and his half-shut eye, His trembling nostrils, and his deep-drawn sigh, His muttering mouth contorted with despair, And ask if Genius could inhabit there.
Oh, yes! that sunken eye with fire once gleam'd, And rays of light from its full circlet stream'd; But now Neglect has stung him to the core, And Hope's wild raptures thrill his breast no more; Domestic Anguish winds his vitals round, And added Grief compels him to the ground. Lo! o'er his manly form, decay'd and wan, The shades of death with gradual steps steal on ; And the pale mother, pining to decay, Weeps for her boy her wretched life away.
Go, child of Fortune! to his early grave, Where o'er his head obscure the rank weeds wave; Behold the heart-wrung parent lay her head On the cold turf, and ask to share his bed. Go, child of Fortune, take thy lesson there, And tell us then that life is wondrous fair!
Yet, Lofft, in thee, whose hand is still stretch'd forth,
T'encourage genius, and to foster worth; On thee, the unhappy's firm, unfailing friend, 'Tis just that every blessing should descend; 'Tis just that life to thee should only show Her fairest side but little mix'd with wo.
IN THE PROSPECT OF DEATH.
SAD solitary Thought, who keep'st thy vigils, Thy solemn vigils, in the sick man's mind; Communing lonely with his sinking soul, And musing on the dubious glooms that lie In dim obscurity before him,-thee, Wrapt in thy dark magnificence, I call At this still midnight hour, this awful season, When on my bed, in wakeful restlessness, I turn me wearisome; while all around, All, all, save me, sink in forgetfulness; I only wake to watch the sickly taper Which lights me to my tomb.-Yea 'tis the hand Of death I feel press heavy on my vitals, Slow sapping the warm current of existence. My moments now are few-the sand of life Ebbs fastly to its finish.-Yet a little, And the last fleeting particle will fall, Silent, unseen, unnoticed, unlamented. Come then, sad Thought, and let us meditate While meditate we may.-We have now But a small portion of what men call time To hold communion; for even now the knife, The separating knife, I feel divide
The tender bond that binds my soul to earth. Yes, I must die-I feel that I must die;
And though to me has life been dark and dreary, Though Hope for me has smiled but to deceive,
And Disappointment still pursued her blandish
Yet do I feel my soul recoil within me As I contemplate the dim gulf of death,
The shuddering void, the awful blank—futurity. Ay, I had plann'd full many a sanguine scheme Of earthly happiness-romantic schemes, And fraught with loveliness; and it is hard To feel the hand of Death arrest one's steps, Throw a chill blight o'er all one's budding hopes, And hurl one's soul untimely to the shades, Lost in the gaping gulf of blank oblivion. Fifty years hence, and who will hear of Henry? Oh! none;-another busy brood of beings Will shoot up in the interim, and none Will hold him in remembrance.
As sinks a stranger in the crowded streets Of busy London :-Some short bustle's caused, A few enquiries, and the crowds close in, And all's forgotten.-On my grassy grave The men of future times will careless tread, And read my name upon the sculptured stone; Nor will the sound, familiar to their ears, Recall my vanish'd memory.-I did hope For better things!-I hoped I should not leave The earth without a vestige ;-Fate decrees It shall be otherwise, and I submit.
Henceforth, oh, world, no more of thy desires! No more of hope! the wanton vagrant Hope! *I abjure all.-Now other cares engross me, And my tired soul, with emulative haste, Looks to its God, and prunes its wings for Heaven.
COME, Anna! come, the morning dawns, Faint streaks of radiance tinge the skies: Come, let us seek the dewy lawns,
And watch the early lark arise; While Nature, clad in vesture gay, Hails the loved return of day.
Our flocks, that nip the scanty blade Upon the moor, shall seek the vale; And then, secure beneath the shade, We'll listen to the throstle's tale;
And watch the silver clouds above, As o'er the azure vault they rove.
Come Anna! come, and bring thy lute, That with its tones, so softly sweet, In cadence with my mellow flute, We may beguile the noontide heat; While near the mellow bee shall join, To raise a harmony divine.
And then at eve, when silence reigns, Except when heard the beetle's hum, We'll leave the sober-tinted plains, To these sweet heights again we'll come; And thou to thy soft lute shalt play A solemn vesper to departing day.
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