Rapt to the fhrine where motion firft began,
And light and life in mingling torrent ran;

From whence each bright rotundity was hurl'd,
The Throne of God,-the centre of the world!

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Oh! vainly wife, the moral Muse hath sung
That fuafive Hope hath but a Syren tongue!
True; fhe may fport with life's untutor'd day,
Nor heed the folace of its laft decay,

The guileless heart her happy mansion spurn,
And part like Ajut never to return!

But yet, methinks, when Wifdom fhall affuage

The griefs and paffions of our greener age,

Though dull the clofe of life, and far away

Each flow'r that hail'd the dawning of the day;

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Yet o'er her lovely hopes that once were dear,
The time-taught fpirit, penfive, not fevere,

With milder griefs her aged eye fhall fill,

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And weep their falfehood, though fhe love them ftill!

Thus, with forgiving tears, and reconcil'd,

The king of Judah mourn'd his rebel child!

Mufing on days when yet the guiltless boy

Smil'd on his fire, and fill'd his heart with joy!
My Abfalom! the voice of Nature cried!
Oh! that for thee thy father could have died!

For bloody was the deed, and rafhly done,

That flew my Abfalom !—my son !—my fon!

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Unfading Hope! when life's laft embers burn, 235

When foul to foul, and dust to dust return!

Heav'n to thy charge refigns the awful hour!

Oh! then, thy kingdom comes! Immortal Power!
What though each fpark of earth-born rapture fly
The quivering lip, pale cheek, and clofing eye!
Bright to the foul thy feraph hands convey

The morning dream of life's eternal day

Then, then, the triumph and the trance begin!

And all the Phoenix fpirit burns within!

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Oh! deep-enchanting prelude to repofe,

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The dawn of blifs, the twilight of our woes!

Yet half I hear the parting spirit figh,

It is a dread and awful thing to die!

Myfterious worlds, untravell'd by the fun!

Where Time's far-wand'ring tide has never run,

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From your unfathom'd fhades, and viewlefs fpheres,
A warning comes, unheard by other ears.

'Tis Heav'n's commanding trumpet, long and loud, Like Sinai's thunder, pealing from the cloud! While Nature hears, with terror-mingled truft,

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The fhock that hurls her fabric to the duft;

And, like the trembling Hebrew, when he trod
The roaring waves, and call'd upon his God,
With mortal terrors clouds immortal bliss,
And fhrieks, and hovers o'er the dark abyfs!

Daughter of Faith, awake, arife, illume The dread unknown, the chaos of the tomb; Melt, and dispel, ye spectre-doubts, that roll Cimmerian darknefs on the parting foul!

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Fly, like the moon-ey'd herald of dismay,

Chas'd on his night-fteed by the ftar of day!

The ftrife is o'er-the pangs of Nature clofe,
And life's laft rapture triumphs o'er her woes.
Hark! as the fpirit eyes, with eagle gaze,

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The noon of Heav'n undazzled by the blaze,
On Heav'nly winds that waft her to the sky,
Float the sweet tones of ftar-born melody;

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Wild as that hallow'd anthem fent to hail

Bethlehem's fhepherds in the lonely vale,

When Jordan hufh'd his waves, and midnight still

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Watch'd on the holy tow'rs of Zion hill!

Soul of the juft! companion of the dead!

Where is thy home, and whither art thou fled?