WINTER IN COPENHAGEN.
ERE yet the clouds let fall the treasur'd snow, Or winds began through hazy skies to blow, At evening a keen eastern breeze arose, And the descending rain unsullied froze. Soon as the silent shades of night withdrew, The ruddy morn disclos'd at once to view The face of nature in a rich disguise,
And heightened every object to my eyes: For every shrub and every blade of grass, And every pointed thorn, seemed wrought in glass; In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns show, While through the ice the crimson berries glow. The thick sprung reeds, the wat'ry marshes yield, Seem polish'd lances in a hostile field, The stag, in limpid currents, with surprise, Sees chrystal branches on his forehead rise:
The spreading oak, the beech, the tow'ring pine, Glaz'd over, in the freezing æther shine.
The frighted birds the rattliug branches shun, Which wave and glitter in the distant sun. When if a sudden gust of wind arise, The brittle forest into atoms flies,
The crackling wood beneath the tempest bends, And in a spangled shower the prospect ends.
THE SACKING OF PRAGUE.
Oh! sacred Truth! thy triumph ceas'd awhile, And Hope, thy sister, ceas'd with thee to smile, When leagu'd oppression pour'd to Northern wars Her whisker'd pandoors and her fierce huzzars, Wav'd her dread standard to the breeze of morn, Peal'd her loud drum, and twang'd her trumpet horn; Tumultuous horror brooded o'er her van, Presaging wrath to Poland-and to man!
Warsaw's last champion from her height survey'd, Wide o'er the fields a waste of ruin laid,- Oh! Heav'n he cried, my bleeding country save! Is there no hand on high to shield the brave? Yet, though destruction sweep these lovely plains, Rise, fellow-men! our country yet remains! By that dread name, we wave the sword on high, And swear for her to live!-with her to die!
He said, and on the rampart heights array'd His trusty warriors, few but undismayed;
Firm-paced, and slow, a horrid front they form, Still as the breeze, but dreadful as the storm; Low, murmuring sounds along their banners fly, Revenge, or death,-the watchword and reply; Then peal'd the notes, omnipotent to charm, And the loud tocsin toll'd their last alarm!-
In vain, alas! in vain, ye gallant few!
From rank to rank your volley'd thunder flew :- Oh bloodiest picture in the Book of Time, Sarmatia fell, unwept, without a crime: Found not a gen'rous friend, a pitying foe, Strength in her arms, nor mercy in her woe!
Dropp'd from her nerveless grasp the shatter'd spear, Clos'd her bright eye, and curb'd her high career; Hope, for a season, bade the world farewell: And Freedom shrieked-as Kosciusko fell!
The sun went down, nor ceas'd the carnage there, Tumultuous murder shook the midnight air- On Prague's proud arch the fires of ruin glow, His blood-dy'd waters murmuring far below; The storm prevails, the rampart yields away, Bursts the wild cry of horror and dismay! Hark! as the smouldering piles with thunder fall, A thousand shrieks for hopeless mercy call! Earth shook-red meteors flash'd along the sky, And conscious Nature shudder'd at the cry!
Oh! Righteous Heaven! ere Freedom found a grave, Why slept the sword Omnipotent, to save? Where was thine arm, O Vengeance! where thy rod, That smote the foes of Zion and of God,
That crush'd proud Ammon, when his iron car Was yok'd in wrath, and thunder'd from afar? Where was the storm that slumber'd till the host Of blood-stain'd Pharaoh left their trembling coast; Then bade the deep in wild commotion flow, And heav'd an ocean on their march below!
Departed spirits of the mighty dead!
Ye that at Marathon and Leuctra bled!
Friends of the world! restore your swords to man, Fight in his sacred cause, and lead the van!
Yet for Sarmatia's tears of blood atone, And make her arm puissant as your own! Oh! once again to Freedom's cause return The Patriot Tell-the Bruce of Bannockburn!
Yes! thy proud lords, unpitied land! shall see That man hath yet a soul-and dare be free! A little while, along thy sad'ning plains, The star less night of desolation reigns; Truth shall restore the light by Nature giv'n, And, like Prometheus, bring the fire of Heav'n! Prone to the dust Oppression shall be hurl'd,— Her name, her nature, wither'd from the world!
ANGEL of life! thy glittering wings explore Earth's loneliest bounds, and Ocean's wildest shore. Lo! to the wintry winds the pilot yields
His bark, careering o'er unfathom'd fields; Now on Atlantic waves he rides afar,
Where Andes, giant of the western star,
With meteor standard to the winds unfurl'd,
Looks from his throne of clouds o'er half the world.
Now far he sweeps, where scarce a summer smiles On Behring's rocks, or Greenland's naked isles; Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow, From wastes that slumber in eternal snow; And waft, across the waves' tumultuous roar, The wolf's long howl from Oonalaska's shore.
Poor child of danger, nursling of the storm, Sad are the woes that wreck thy manly form! Rocks, waves, and winds, the shatter'd bark delay; Thy heart is sad, thy home is far away.
But Hope can here her moonlight vigils keep, And sing to charm the spirit of the deep. Swift as yon streamer lights the starry pole, Her visions warm the watchman's pensive soul! His native hills that rise in happier climes, The grot that heard his song of other times, His cottage-home, his bark of slender sail, His glassy lake, and broom wood-blossom'd vale, Rush on his thought; he sweeps before the wind, Treads the lov'd shore he sigh'd to leave behind; Meets at each step a friend's familiar face, And flies at last to Helen's long embrace; Wipes from her cheek the rapture speaking tear, And clasps, with many a sigh, his children dear! While, long neglected, but at length caress'd His faithful dog salutes the smiling guest,
Points to the master's eyes, where'er they roam, His wistful face, and whines a welcome home.
IN joyous youth, what soul hath never known Thought, feeling, taste, harmonious to its own? Who hath not paus'd, while beauty's pensive eye Ask'd from his heart the homage of a sigh? Who hath not own'd, with rapture-smitten frame, The power of grace, the magic of a name?
There be, perhaps, who barren hearts avow, Cold as the rocks on Torneo's hoary brow; There be, whose loveless wisdom never fail'd, In self-adoring pride securely mail'd;But, triumph not, ye peace-enamor'd few! Fire, Nature, Genius, never dwelt with you! For you no fancy consecrates the scene Where rapture utter'd vows, and wept between; 'Tis yours, unmov'd, to sever and to meet; No pledge is sacred, and no home is sweet!
Who that would ask a heart to dulness wed, The waveless calm, the slumber of the dead? No; the wild bliss of Nature needs alloy, And fear and sorrow fan the fire of joy! And say, without our hopes, without our fears Without the home that plighted love endears, Without the smile from partial beauty won, O! what were man?-a world without a sun!
Till Hymen brought his love-delighted hour, There dwelt no joy in Eden's rosy bow'r! In vain the viewless seraph ling'ring there, At starry midnight charm'd the silent air; In vain the wild-bird carol'd on the steep, To hail the sun, slow-wheeling from the deep; In vain, to soothe the solitary shade, Aerial notes in mingling measure play'd; The summer wind that shook the spangled tree, The whispering wave, the murmur of the bee;Still slowly pass'd the melancholy day, And still the stranger wist not where to stray,The world was sad!-the garden was a wild! And man, the hermit, sigh'd-till Woman smil'd.
OH! lives there, Heav'n! beneath thy dread expanse, One hopeless, dark Idolater of Chance,
Content to feed, with pleasures unrefin❜d, The lukewarm passions of a lowly mind;
Who, mould'ring earthward, reft of every trust, In joyless union wedded to the dust,
Could all his parting energy dismiss,
And call this barren world sufficient bliss?- There live, alas! of Heav'n-directed mien, Of cultur'd soul, and sapient eye serene, Who hail thee, Man! the pilgrim of a day, Spouse of the worm, and brother of the clay! Frail as the leaf in Autumn's yellow bower, Dust in the wind, or dew upon the flower! A friendless slave, a child without a sire, Whose mortal life, and momentary fire, Lights to the grave his chance-created form, As ocean-wrecks illuminate the storm;
. And, when the gun's tremendous flash is o'er, To Night and silence sink for ever more!
Are these the pompous tidings ye proclaim, Lights of the world, and demi-gods of Fame? Is this your triumph-this your proud applause, Children of Truth, and champions of her cause? For this hath Science search'd, on weary wing, By shore and sea-each mute and living thing? Launch'd with Iberia's pilot from the steep, To worlds unknown, and isles beyond the deep? Or round the cope her living chariot driv❜n,
And wheel'd in triumph through the signs of Heav'n? Oh! star-ey'd Science, hast thou wander'd there,
To waft us home the message of despair? Then bind the palm, thy sage's brow to suit, Of blasted leaf, and death-distilling fruit! Ah me! the laurel'd wreath that murder rears, Blood-nurs'd, and water'd by the widow's tears, Seems not so foul, so tainted, and so dread, As waves the night-shade round the sceptic head. What is the bigot's torch, the tyrant's chain? I smile on death, if Heav'n-ward Hope remain ! But, if the warring winds of Nature's strife
Be all the faithless charter of my life,
If Chance awak'd, inexorble pow'r!
This frail and fev'rish being of an hour,
Doom'd o'er the world's precarious scene to sweep, Swift as the tempest travels on the deep,
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