Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

THE CRUCIFIXION.

By Eden promised, ere he died,
To the felon at his side;

Lord! our suppliant knees we bow:
Son of God! 'tis Thou!-'tis Thou!

Bound upon the accursed tree,
Sad and dying, who is He?
By the last and bitter cry;
The ghost given up in agony;
By the lifeless body, laid
In the chamber of the dead;
By the mourners come to weep
Where the bones of Jesus sleep;
Crucified! We know Thee now:
Son of man! 'tis Thou!-'tis Thou!

Bound upon the accursed tree,
Dread and awful, who is He?

By the prayer for them that slew,

66

Lord, they know not what they do!"

By the spoil'd and empty grave;

By the souls he died to save;
By the conquest he hath won;
By the saints before his throne;
By the rainbow round his brow:
Son of God! 'tis Thou!-'tis Thou!

MILMAN.

17

EVE'S LAMENT ON HER EXPULSION FROM
PARADISE.

O UNEXPECTED stroke, worse than of death!
Must I thus leave thee, Paradise ?—thus leave
Thee, native soil! these happy walks and shades,
Fit haunt of gods? where I had hope to spend,
Quiet though sad, the respite of that day
That must be mortal to us both. O flowers,
That never will in other climate grow,
My early visitation, and my last

At eve, which I bred up with tender hand,
From the first op'ning bud, and gave ye names !
Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank
Your tribes, and water from the ambrosial fount?
Thee lastly, nuptial bower! by me adorn'd
With what to sight or smell was sweet! from thee
How shall I part, and whither wander down

Into a lower world, to this obscure

And wild

how shall we breathe in other air

Less pure, accustom'd to immortal fruits?

MILTON.

THE OCEAN.

ROLL on, thou deep and dark blue ocean-roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain ;
Man marks the earth with ruin-his control
Stops with the shore; upon the watery plain
The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain
A shadow of man's ravage, save his own,
When, for a moment, like a drop of rain,

He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan,
Without a grave, unknell'd, uncoffin'd, and unknown.

His steps are not upon thy paths, thy fields
Are not a spoil for him,-thou dost arise

And shake him from thee; the vile strength he wields
For earth's destruction, thou dost all despise,

Spurning him from thy bosom to the skies,
And send'st him, shiv'ring, in thy playful spray,
And howling, to his gods, where haply lies
His petty hope in some near port or bay,

And dashest him again to earth: there let him lay.

The armaments which thunder-strike the walls
Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake,
And monarchs tremble in their capitals;
The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make

Their clay creator the vain title take
Of lord of thee, and arbiter of war;
These are thy toys, and as the snowy flake,
They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar
Alike the Armada's pride, or spoils of Trafalgar.

Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee—
Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they?
Thy waters wasted them while they were free,

And
many a tyrant since; their shores obey
The stranger, slave, or savage; their decay
Has dried up realms to deserts :—not so thou,
Unchangeable save to thy wild waves' play-
Time writes no wrinkle on thy azure brow-
Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now.

BYRON.

THE PALACE OF ICE.

No forest fell,

Imperial mistress of the fur-clad Russ,

When thou wouldst build, no quarry sent its stores
T'enrich thy walls: but thou didst hew the floods,
And make thy marble of the glassy wave.

Silently as a dream the fabric rose;

No sound of hammer or of saw was there :
Ice upon ice, the well-adjusted parts
Were soon conjoin'd; nor other cement ask'd
Than water interfused to make them one.

THE PALACE OF ICE.

Lamps gracefully disposed, and of all hues,
Illumined every side: a wat'ry light

21

Gleam'd through the clear transparency, that seem'd Another moon new-risen, or meteor fall'n

From heaven to earth, of harmless flame serene.

So stood the brittle prodigy; though smooth
And slipp'ry the materials, yet frost-bound

Firm as a rock.

Nor wanted aught within

That royal residence might well befit

For grandeur or for use.

Long wavy wreaths

enemy but warmth,

Of flowers, that fear'd no

Blush'd on the pannels. Mirror needed none
Where all was glassy; but in order due
Convivial table and commodious seat

(What seem'd at least commodious seat) were there,
Sofa, and couch, and high-built throne august.
The same lubricity was found in all,

And all was moist to the warm touch; a scene
Of evanescent glory, once a stream,

And soon to slide into a stream again.

COWPER.

« AnteriorContinuar »