Delighted with my bauble coach, and wrapp'd In scarlet mantle warm, and velvet cap, 'Tis now become a history little known,
That once we call'd the pastoral house our own. Short-lived possession! but the record fair That memory keeps of all thy kindness there, Still outlives many a storm, that has effaced A thousand other themes less deeply traced. Thy nightly visits to my chamber made,
That thou mightst know me safe and warmly laid; Thy morning bounties ere I left my home,
The biscuit, or confectionary plum;
The fragrant waters on my cheeks bestow'd
By thy own hand, till fresh they shone and glow'd; All this, and more endearing still than all,
Thy constant flow of love, that knew no fall, Ne'er roughen'd by those cataracts and breaks, That humour interposed too often makes; All this still legible in memory's page, And still to be so to my latest age,
Adds joy to duty, makes me glad to pay Such honours to thee as my numbers may; Perhaps a frail memorial, but sincere,
Not scorn'd in heaven, though little noticed here. Could Time, his flight reversed, restore the hours, When, playing with thy vesture's tissued flowers, The violet, the pink, and jessamine,
I prick'd them into paper with a pin,
(And thou wast happier than myself the while, Wouldst softly speak, and stroke my head, and smile),
Could those few pleasant days again appear, Might one wish bring them, would I wish them here? I would not trust my heart-the dear delight Seems so to be desired, perhaps I might.— But no-what here we call our life is such, So little to be loved, and thou so much, That I should ill requite thee to constrain Thy unbound spirit into bonds again.
Thou, as a gallant bark from Albion's coast, (The storms all weather'd and the ocean cross'd), Shoots into port at some well-haven'd isle, Where spices breathe, and brighter seasons smile, There sits quiescent on the floods, that show Her beauteous form reflected clear below, While airs impregnated with incensé play Around her, fanning light her streamers gay;
So thou, with sails how swift! hast reach'd the shore 'Where tempests never beat nor billows roar,' * And thy loved consort on the dangerous tide Of life long since has anchor'd by thy side. But me, scarce hoping to attain that rest, Always from port withheld, always distress'd- Me howling blasts drive devious, tempest-toss'd, Sails ripp'd, seams opening wide, and compass lost, And day by day some current's thwarting force Sets me more distant from a prosperous course. Yet O the thought, that thou art safe, and he! That thought is joy, arrive what may to me.
My boast is not, that I deduce my birth From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth; But higher far my proud pretensions rise- The son of parents pass'd into the skies. And now farewell-Time unrevoked has run His wonted course, yet what I wish'd is done. By Contemplation's help, not sought in vain, I seem to have lived my childhood o'er again; To have renew'd the joys that once were mine, Without the sin of violating thine;
And, while the wings of Fancy still are free, And I can view this mimic show of thee, Time has but half succeeded in his theft-
Thyself removed, thy power to soothe me left.
THERE was a time when Ætna's silent fire Slept unperceived, the mountain yet entire: When, conscious of no danger from below, She tower'd a cloud-capt pyramid of snow. No thunders shook with deep intestine sound The blooming groves that girdled her around. Her unctuous olives, and her purple vines, (Unfelt the fury of those bursting mines), The peasant's hopes, and not in vain, assured, In peace upon her sloping sides matured: When on a day, like that of the last doom, A conflagration labouring in her womb,
She teem'd and heaved with an infernal birth That shook the circling seas and solid earth, Dark and voluminous the vapours rise,
And hang their horrours in the neighbouring skies, While through the Stygian veil that blots the day, In dazzling streaks the vivid lightnings play. But oh! what Muse, and in what powers of song, Can trace the torrent as it burns along? Havoc and devastation in the van,
It marches o'er the prostrate works of man; Vines, olives, herbage, forests disappear, And all the charms of a Sicilian year.
Revolving seasons, fruitless as they pass,
See it an uninform'd and idle mass; Without a soil to invite the tiller's care,
Or blade that might redeem it from despair. Yet Time at length (what will not time achieve?) Clothes it with earth, and bids the produce live.
Once more the spiry myrtle crowns the glade, And ruminating flocks enjoy the shade.
O bliss precarious, and unsafe retreats, O charming Paradise of short-lived sweets! The self-same gale that wafts the fragrance round, Brings to the distant year a sullen sound:
Again the mountain feels the imprison'd foe, Again pours ruin on the vale below.
Ten thousand swains the wasted scene deplore, That only future ages can restore.
Ye monarchs, whom the lure of honour draws, Who write in blood the merits of your cause, Who strike the blow, then plead your own defence, Glory your aim, but justice your pretence,
Behold in Etna's emblematic fires
The mischiefs your ambitious pride inspires! Fast by the stream that bounds your just domain, And tells you where ye have a right to reign, A nation dwells, not envious of your throne, Studious of peace, their neighbours', and their own. Ill-fated race! how deeply must they rue Their only crime, vicinity to you!
The trumpet sounds, your legions swarm abroad, Through the ripe harvest lies their destined road; At every step beneath their feet they tread The life of multitudes, a nation's bread! Earth seems a garden in its loveliest dress Before them, and behind a wilderness. Famine, and Pestilence, her first-born son, Attend to finish what the sword begun;
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