XXXVII. ODE. I. WHO rises on the banks of Seine, And binds her temples with the civic wreath? And twinkling in the light, - That breeze she will invite; And stands on tiptoe, conscious she is fair, - Melt, Principalities, before her melt! Her love ye hailed her wrath have felt! But She through many a change of form hath gone, But the live scales of a portentous nature; II. I marked the breathings of her dragon crest; My soul in many a midnight vision bowed Before the meanings which her spear expressed; Whether the mighty Beam, in scorn upheld, Threatened her foes, or, pompously at rest, Seemed to bisect the orbit of her shield, III. So did she daunt the Earth, and God defy! And, wheresoe'er she spread her sovereignty, Pollution tainted all that was most pure. Have we not known- and live we not to tell That Justice seemed to hear her final knell ? Faith buried deeper in her own deep breast Her stores and sighed to find them insecure! And Hope was maddened by the drops that fell From shades-her chosen place of short-lived rest, Which, when they first received her, she had blest: Shame followed shame-and woe supplanted woeIs this the only change that time can show? How long shall vengeance sleep? Ye patient Heavens, how long? -Infirm ejaculation! from the tongue IV. Weak Spirits are there who would ask, Upon the pressure of a painful thing, Of herbs and lowly flowers, Or seek, from Saints above, miraculous aid; If, when that interference hath relieved him, He must sink down to languish Till the caves roar, — and, imbecility Again engendering anguish, V. But Thou, Supreme Disposer! might'st not speed The course of things, and change the creed, Which hath been held aloft before Men's sight Since the first framing of societies, Whether, as Bards have told in ancient song, And by the power, of wrong! XXXVIII. ODE, COMPOSED IN JANUARY 1816. I. WHEN the soft hand of sleep had closed the latch I saw (but little boots it that my verse A shadowy visitation should rehearse, For to our Shores such glory hath been brought, Tower, town, and city — and suburban grove, And stately forest where the wild deer rove; Through such a portal as with chearful eye The traveller greets in time of threatened storm, Issued, to sudden view, a radiant Form! |