Thus, with delight, we linger to survey The promis'd joys of life's unmeasur'd way; Thus, from afar, each dim-discover'd scene More pleasing seems than all the past hath been ; And every form, that Fancy can repair From dark oblivion, glows divinely there. What potent spirit guides the raptur❜d eye To pierce the shades of dim futurity? Can Wisdom lend, with all her heav'nly pow'r, The pledge of Joy's anticipated hour? Ah, no! she darkly sees the fate of man Her dim horizon bounded to a span; Or, if she hold an image to the view, 'Tis Nature pictur'd too severely true. When Murder bard her arm & rampant War the viewless winds to Heav'n again. Published as the Act directs by Longman &C.Jan'11808. With thee, sweet Hope! resides the heav'nly light, That pours remotest rapture on the sight: Thine is the charm of life's bewilder'd way, That calls each slumb'ring passion into play. Wak'd by thy touch, I see the sister band, Primeval Hope, th' Aonian Muses say, When Man and Nature mourn'd their first decay; When every form of death, and every woe, Shot from malignant stars to earth below; When Murder bared her arm, and rampant War Yok'd the red dragons of his iron car; When Peace and Mercy, banish'd from the plain, Sprung on the viewless winds to Heav'n again ; All, all forsook the friendless guilty mind, But Hope, the charmer, linger'd still behind. Thus, while Elijah's burning wheels prepare, From Carmel's height, to sweep the fields of air, The prophet's mantle, ere his flight began, Dropt on the world-a sacred gift to man. Auspicious Hope! in thy sweet garden grow Wreaths for each toil, a charm for every woe: Won by their sweets, in Nature's languid hour, The way-worn pilgrim seeks thy summer bower; There, as the wild bee murmurs on the wing, What peaceful dreams thy handmaid spirits bring! |