Friend of my youth! for thee
Spontaneously shall flow;
And memory through a length of years
Shall nurse the sighs of woe.
For thee, when autumn glows around,
An offering sad I'll pay,
Deck with fresh wreaths thy hallow'd ground,
And mourn the fatal day.
On thee, amid life's varied part,
My tenderest thought shall rest, Bemoan'd while love can warm my heart, Or friendship cheer my breast.
WAVE thy fair head, thou early flower,
And the fleeting sunshine borrow;
For the scornful wind and the driving shower
Shall lay thee low to-morrow,
Fond beauty! whose love-lighted eye
The smile of joy is wearing,
Cherish the beam; for love shall die,
And leave thy soul despairing.
The blossom of Spring's untimely birth,
To the lingering storm is given;
And love is a flower may bud on earth,
But only blows in heaven.
MOSES VIEWING THE PROMISED LAND *,
"And Moses went up from the Plains of Moab unto the Moun tains of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord shewed him all the Land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the Land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the Land of Judah unto the utmost Sea, and the South, and the Plain of the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palm Trees unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto him, This is the Land which I sware unto Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither." DEUT. xxxiv. 1-4.
As some poor pilgrim, long condemn'd to roam
A pensive wand'rer from his cheerful home,
Pants to return the dear delights to hail,
Which breathe their influence o'er his native vale;
If chance, at length, he scales some mountain's height,
And all his country swells upon the sight:
What sudden joy his languid eye inspires!
How his cold bosom burns with ancient fires!
So warn'd by Him, whose all-commanding power
Calls man to life, and marks his destin'd hour,
Long doom'd to wander on the thirsty waste,
Long doom'd to toil beneath the scorching blast,
This Poem has been attributed to C. Grant, Esq. Author of the Prize Poem on the Restoration of Learning in the East.
To Pisgah's top the holy Seer withdrew,
And Canaan's glories burst upon his view.
High on a mount he stood, whose awful brow
Frown'd in dark pomp o'er Jordan's streams below;
Whose far horizon marks the distant land,
Where western billows lash the Tyrian strand.
Through the wide realm, what scenes of wonder rise,
What forms of beauty greet his ravish'd eyes!
Fair smile the vallies, fair the rivers flow,
And groves with brightest tints of beauty glow;
In gay luxuriance Spring's abundant train,
And waving plenty, clothe the fertile plain;
Rich o'er the meads unfolds the varying bloom,
Rich on the breezes floats a sweet perfume.
Nature with joy the broad expansion fills,
Crown'd with the riches of a thousand hills.
Thus while the prophet mark'd the bright domain,
From his rapt bosom burst th' impassion'd strain.
"Is this the region this the place of rest?
Hail, happy land, a land supremely blest.
Twice twenty times has Egypt learn'd to smile,
Enrich'd with plenty from the stores of Nile,
Since the proud main in billowy ramparts stood,
And crystal bulwarks stay'd the rolling flood.
Twice twenty summers have I toil'd to gain
This blissful prospect, nor have toil'd in vain.
Each morn renew'd the visionary theme,
And Canaan's glories rose in every dream.
Now send me, heav'n, the message of release,
My eyes behold them, and shall close in peace.
In safety here shall Israel's sons recline,
Tend the rich flock and prune the clust'ring vine;
Deut. ch. xxxiii. ver. 28.
His heav'ns shall shower their bounteous gifts around,
And golden harvests bless the verdant ground.
Here blooms the land of Palm Trees *; grateful soil!
There groaning presses flow with streams of oil;
Whilst flow'ry Carmel lifts his summits high,
And flings his store of fragrance to the sky.
Thy lofty cedars, Lebanon, proclaim +
The destin'd borders of Manasseh's name:
And Judah's race shall stretch their ample reign
From Jordan's margin to the western main."
He spoke and paus'd: for now celestial light
Beam'd in full splendour on his mental sight;
Chas'd from his soul the mortal mists away,
And on his eye-balls pour'd a brighter ray;
New forms of vision o'er the scene expand,
And rites of blood pollute the smiling land.
From Arnon's streams to Rabbah's watery plain
Extends dread Moloch's sanguinary reign.
Whilst idol shrines with frantic shrieks resound
Through Sidon's coast to Moab's utmost bound,
With eager haste the wild enthusiast roves
To weave the dance in consecrated groves;
Or in lone caverns, where, with orgies dire,
Insensate voices hail the mystic fire;
While cymbals loud assist the madding roar,
Bids the foul altars blush with human gore.
In vain the mother clasps her tender care,
And faints in all the agony of prayer;
In vain the infant, with imploring cries,
Intreats a milder doom: he bleeds, and dies.
Stern indignation fir'd the prophet's eye,
And his rent bosom heav'd the lab'ring sigh.
* Deut. ch. xxxiv. ver. 4.
"Ah, fools! and blind in heart! can deeds of blood Invite the smile or stay the bolts of God?
Say, shall the mutter'd spell, the midnight charm
Unnerve the vigour of Jehovah's arm?
Behold your instant doom; embattled hosts
Pour their dark files in vengeance on your coasts;
Exulting myriads rend the astonish'd air
With strains of triumph, for the Lord is there;
Full on the camp the streams of glory play
And burnish'd casques reflect a heavenly ray.
Wide wasting ruin scours the reeking plain,
And rides in thunder o'er a host of slain,
Low in the dust your vaunted bulwarks lie,
Whilst flames aspire, and darkness blots the sky.
Thrice happy Israel †, doom'd by heav'n to wield
Its own dread weapons through the tented field;
Th' eternal king thy raging foes disarms,
And bears thee safe on everlasting arms.
To earthly steel they trust the weak defence,
God is thy shield, thy sword Omnipotence;
Strong in his strength, secure in aid divine,
March on to conquest, lo! the land is thine."
A sacred joy his patriot breast inspires,
And his rapt soul with holy transport fires;
Full in his view the streaming banners fly,
And songs of victory cleave the yielding sky.
In his high course the flaming orb of day
O'er Gibeon's plain arrests his downward way;
And night's pale regent checks her silver car
Where Ajalon's wide vales re-echo shouts of war.
Rouse, Moloch, rouse! thy veteran bands array;
Spread the deep squadrons; wake the martial lay;
* Exod. ch. xxv. ver. 21, 22, &c.
Deut, ch. xxxiii. ver. 26, &c.
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