See the Queen of Mountains stand, With the lightning in her hand, And the Alps beneath her feet. Hark! her voice :-"My sons! awake! "Freedom dawns, behold the day! "From the bed of bondage break, ""Tis your Mother calls,-obey!" At the sound, our fathers' graves, Rise, my Brethren! cast away And appease your fathers' graves Strike!-the conflict is begun; Freemen Soldiers! follow me! Shout!-the Victory is won, SWITZERLAND AND LIBERTY!" Shep. "Warrior! Warrior! stay thine arm! Sheathe, O sheathe thy frantic sword!" Wand. "Ah! I rave!-I faint!-the charm Flies, and memory is restored! Yes, to agony restored From the too transporting charm :- Be thou wither'd, O mine arm! SWITZERLAND is but a name ! -Yet I feel, where'er I roam, That my heart is still the same, THE GRAVE. THERE is a calm for those who weep, Low in the ground. The storm that wrecks the winter sky No more disturbs their deep repose, Than summer evening's latest sigh That shuts the rose. I long to lay this painful head From all my toil. D For Misery stole me at my birth, And cast me helpless on the wild : I perish ;- my Mother Earth! Take home thy Child! On thy dear lap these limbs reclined, Nor leave one wretched trace behind Resembling me. Hark! a strange sound affrights mine ear; My pulse,―my brain runs wild,—I rave ; -Ah! who art thou whose voice I hear? "I am THE GRAVE! "The GRAVE, that never spake before, Hath found at length a tongue to chide : O listen!-I will speak no more :— Be silent, Pride! "Art thou a WRETCH of hope forlorn, The victim of consuming care? Is thy distracted conscience torn By fell despair? "Do foul misdeeds of former times Wring with remorse thy guilty breast? Murder thy rest? "Lash'd by the furies of the mind, From Wrath and Vengeance would'st thou flee? Ah! think not, hope not, Fool! to find A friend in me. "By all the terrors of the tomb, Beyond the power of tongue to tell! By Death and Hell! |