Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

Then ceafe, fair mourner, to complain,

Nor lavish fuch bright streams in vain :
But still with chearful thoughts thy cares beguile,
And tempt thy better fortunes with a smile.

III.

The generous mind is by its fufferings known,
Which no affliction tramples down;
But when opprefs'd will upward move,
Spurn down its clog of cares, and foar above.
Thus the young royal eagle tries

On the fun-beams his tender eyes,

And, if he fhrinks not at th' offenfive light,"
He's then for empire fit, and takes his foaring flight.

IV.

Though cares affault thy breast on every side,
Yet bravely ftem th' impetuous tide :
No tributary tears to fortune pay,
Nor add to any loss a nobler day;

But with kind hopes fupport thy mind,

And think thy better lot behind :
Amidft afflictions let thy foul be great,

And fhew thou dar'st deserve a better state.

V.

Then, lovely mourner, wipe those tears away,
And cares that urge thee to decay;

Like ravenous age thy charms they wafte,
Wrinkle thy youthful brow, and blooming beauties blaft..
But keep thy looks and mind ferene,

All gay without, all calm within ;

For Fate is aw'd, and adverfe fortunes fly
A chearful look, and an unconquer'd eye.

HYMN

HYMN TO THE MORNING,

IN PRAISE OF LIGHT.

I.

PARENT of Day! whofe beauteous beams of light

Spring from the darkfome womb of night,

And midst their native horrors fhow,
Like gems adorning of the Negro's brow:
Not heaven's fair bow can equal thee,
In all its gaudy drapery ;

Thou first effay of light, and pledge of day !
That usher'ft in the fun, and still prepar'st its way.

II.

Rival of fhade, eternal fpring of light!
Thou art the genuine fource of it:
From thy bright unexhausted womb,
The beauteous race of days and feafons come.
Thy beauty ages cannot wrong,

But, fpight of time, thou 'rt ever young :
Thou art alone heaven's modest virgin light,
Whose face a veil of blushes hides from human fight.

III.

Like fome fair bride thou rifeft from thy bed,

And doft around thy luftre spread ;

Around the universe dispense

New life to all, and quickening influence.

[blocks in formation]

With gloomy fmiles thy rival Night

Beholds thy glorious dawn of light:

Not all the wealth fhe views in mines below

Can match thy brighter beams, or equal luftre fhow.
IV.

At thy approach, Nature erects her head,
The fmiling univerfe is glad;

The drowsy earth and feas awake,

And, from thy beams, new life and vigour take: When thy more chearful rays appear,

Ev'n guilt and women ceafe to fear: Horror, Despair, and all the fons of Night Retire before thy beams, and take their hafty flight.

V.

To thee, the grateful East their altars raise,
And fing with carly hymns thy praise;
Thou doft their happy foil bestow,
Enrich the heavens above, and earth below:
Thou rifeft in the fragrant East,

Like the fair Phoenix from her balmy neft:

No altar of the gods can equal thine,

The air's thy richest incenfe, the whole land thy fhrine!

VI.

But yet thy fading glories foon decay.

Thine's but a momentary stay;

Too foon thou 'rt ravifh'd from our fight,

Borne down the ftream of day, and overwhelm'd with light.

Thy beams to their own ruin haste,
They 're fram'd too exquifite to last:

Thine is a glorious, but a fhort-liv'd state.

Pity so fair a birth fhould yield fo foon to Fate!

VII.

Before th' Almighty Artist fram'd the sky,
Or gave the earth its harmony,

His first command was for thy light;
He view'd the lovely birth, and blessed it :
In purple fwaddling-bands it ftruggling lay,
Not yet maturely bright for day:

Old Chaos then a chearful fmile put on,

And, from thy beauteous form, did first presage its

VIII.

"Let there be Light!" the great Creator faid, His word the active child obey'd:

own.

Night did her teeming womb difclose ; And then the blushing Morn, its brighteft offspring, rofe. A while th' Almighty wondering view'd, And then himself pronounc'd it good:

"With Night," faid he, "divide th' imperial fway; "Thou my firft labour art, and thou fhalt blefs the Day."

HYMN TO DARKNESS.

I.

DARKNESS, thou firft great parent of us all,

art our great original :

Since from thy univerfal womb

Does all thou fhad'ft below, thy numerous offspring,

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

II.

Thy wondrous birth is ev'n to Time unknown,.
Or, like Eternity, thou'dft none;

Whilft Light did its first being owe
Unto that awful fhade it dares to rival now.
III.

Say, in what diftant region dost thou dwell,
To Reafon inacceffible?

From form and duller matter free,

Thou- foar'ft above the reach of man's philosophy.
IV.

Involv'd in thee, we first receive our breath,
Thou art our refuge too in death :

Great Monarch of the Grave and Womb,
Where-e'er our fouls fhall go, to thee our bodies come.

V.

The filent globe is ftruck with awful fear,

When thy majestic shades appear:

Thou doft compose the air and fea,

And Earth a fabbath keeps, facred to Reft and Thee. VI.

In thy ferener fhades our ghosts delight,

And court the umbrage of the Night;

In vaults and gloomy caves they stray,

But fly the Morning's beams, and ficken at the Day. VII.

Though folid bodies dare exclude the light,

Nor will the brightest ray admit ;

No fubftance can thy force repel,

Thou reign' in depths below, dost in the centre dwell.

VIII. The

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »