"Exult in their fierce union! I am sad, "And know not why the simple Peasants crowd "Beneath the Chieftains' standard!" Thus the Maid. To her the tutelary Spirit replied: 66 Pleasingly agitate their stagnant Hearts; 66 66 66 Insipid Royalty's keen condiment ! Therefore, uninjur'd and unprofited, (Victims at once and Executioners) "The congregated Husbandmen lay waste "The Vineyard and the Harvest. As along "The Bothnic coast, or southward of the Line, 66 Though hush'd the Winds and cloudless the high Noon, "Yet if LEVIATHAN, weary of ease, "In sports unwieldy toss his Island-bulk, "Ocean behind him billows, and before "A storm of waves breaks foamy on the strand. "And hence, for times and seasons bloody and dark, "Short Peace shall skin the wounds of causeless War, "And War, his strained sinews knit anew, "Still violate th' unfinish'd works of Peace. "But yonder look! for more demands thy view!" From Egypt's fields that steam hot pestilence, And steer'd its course which way the Vapor went. The Maiden paus'd, musing what this might mean. But long time pass'd not, ere that brighter Cloud Returned more bright along the Plain it swept ; And soon from forth its bursting sides emerg'd A dazzling Form, broad-bosom'd, bold of eye, And wild her hair, save where with laurels bound. Not more majestic stood the healing God, When from his brow the arrow sped that slew Huge Python. Shriek'd AMBITION's giant throng, And with them hiss'd the Locust-fiends that crawl'd And glitter'd in CORRUPTION's slimy track. Great was their wrath, for short they knew their reign: And such commotion made they, and uproar, As when the mad Tornado bellows through The guilty islands of the western main, What time departing from their native shores, Eboe, or *Koromantyn's plain of Palms, *The Slaves in the West-Indies consider death as a passport to their native country. This sentiment is thus expressed in the introduction to a Greek Prize-Ode on the Slave-Trade, of which the ideas are better than the language in which they are conveyed. Leaving the Gates of Darkness, O Death! hasten thou to a Race yoked with Misery! Thou wilt not be received with The infuriate spirits of the Murdered make Sent up its foulest fogs to meet the Morn: The Sun that rose on FREEDOM, rose in BLOOD! "Maiden belov'd, and Delegate of Heaven!" (To her the tutelary Spirit said) "Soon shall the Morning struggle into Day, "The stormy Morning into cloudless Noon. "Much hast thou seen, nor all canst understand— "But this be thy best Omen-SAVE THY COUNTRY !" Thus saying, from the answering Maid he pass'd, And with him disappear'd the Heavenly Vision. "Glory to Thee, Father of Earth and Heaven! "All conscious PRESENCE of the Universe! "Nature's vast Ever-acting ENERGY ! "In Will, in Deed, IMPULSE of All to All! "Whether thy Love with unrefracted Ray lacerations of cheeks, nor with funereal ululation-but with circling dances, and the joy of songs. Thou art terrible indeed, yet thou dwelleth with LIBERTY, stern GENIUS! Borne on thy dark pinions over the swelling of Ocean, they return to their native country. There, by the side of Fountains beneath Citron-groves, the lovers tell to their beloved what horrors, being Men, they had endured from Men. "Beam on the PROPHET's purged eye, or if 66 Diseasing Realms the ENTHUSIAST, wild of Thought, "Scatter new Frenzies on the infected Throng, "Thou Both inspiring and predooming Both, "Fit INSTRUMENTS and best, of perfect End: "Glory to Thee, Father of Earth and Heaven!" And first a Landscape rose, More wild, and waste, and desolate, than where The white bear, drifting on a field of ice, Howls to her sundered cubs with piteous rage And savage agony. PINIS. |