II. 2. Involved in fire-streaked gloom, the car comes on. The rushing steeds grim Terror guides. His forehead writhed to a relentless frown, Aloft the angry Power of Battles rides. A mace, tremendous, desolates the land; A deeper gloom invests the howling shades; Stripped is the shattered grove, and every verdure dies. II. S. How startled Phrenzy stares, Bristling her ragged hairs! Revenge the gory fragment gnaws; See, with her griping vulture claws Imprinted deep, she rends the mangled wound! Hate whirls her torch sulphureous round. The shrieks of agony, and clang of arms, Re-echo to the hoarse alarms, Her trump terrific blows. Disparting from behind, the clouds disclose, Of kingly gesture, a gigantic form, That with his scourge sublime rules the careering storm. III. 1. . Ambition, outside fair! within as foul As fiends of fiercest heart below, Who ride the hurricanes of fire, that roll Their thundering vortex o'er the realms of woe, Yon naked waste survey; Where late was heard the flute's mellifluous lay; In loose array, danced lightly o'er the flowers; And, wakened by the murmuring breeze of morn, The voice of chearful Labour filled the dale; And dove-eyed Plenty smiled, and waved her liberal horn. III. 2. Yon ruins, sable from the wasting flame, But mark the once resplendent dome; The frequent corse obstructs the sullen stream, And ghosts glare horrid from the sylvan gloom. Save where, outstretched beneath yon hanging wall, And Anguish yells, and grinds his bloody teeth. What scenes of glory rise Before my dazzled eyes! III. 3. Young zephyrs wave their wanton wings, And melody celestial rings. All blooming on the lawn the nymphs advance, And touch the lute, and range the dance: And the blithe shepherds, on the mountain's side, Arrayed in all their rural pride, Exalt the festive note, Inviting Echo from her inmost grot But ah! the landscape glows with fainter light; It darkens, swims, and flies for ever from my sight: IV. 1. Illusions vain! Can sacred PEACE reside Where sordid gold the breast alarms, Where Cruelty inflames the eye of Pride, And Grandeur wantons in soft Pleasure's arms? Ambition, these are thine! These from the soul erase the form divine; And quench the animating fire, That warms the bosom with sublime desire. Thence the relentless heart forgets to feel, And Hatred triumphs on the o'erwhelming brow, And midnight Rancour grasps the cruel steel; Blaze the blue flames of death, and sound the shrieks of woe. IV. 2. From Albion fled, thy once beloved retreat, Creative PEACE! and underneath thy feet See sudden flowers adorn the rugged soil? Waked by thy genial breath, the balmy rose? Does life inform fell Lybia's burning sand? Or does some isle thy parting flight detain, And, led by Reason's light, the path of Nature treads ? On Cuba's utmost steep, IV. 3. Far leaning o'er the deep, The Goddess' pensive form was seen : Her robe, of Nature's varied green, Waved on the gale; grief dimmed her radiant Her bosom heaved with boding sighs. eyes, |