For love, which scarce collective man can fill;
For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill;
For faith, that panting for a happier seat,
Counts death kind Nature's signal of retreat :
These goods for man the laws of heav'n ordain,
These goods he grants, who grants the pow'r to
gain;
With these celestial Wisdom calms the mind,
And makes the happiness she does not find.
See the leaves around us falling,
Dry and withered to the ground!
Thus to thoughtless mortals calling
With a sad and sulemn sound-
"Sons of Adam-once in Eden,
Blighted when like us you fell,
Hear the lecture we are reading,
'Tis, alas! the truth we tell;
Virgins! much, too much presuming,
In your boasted white and red,
View us late in beauty blooming,
Number'd now among the dead:
Griping Misers! nightly waking,
See the end or all your care,
Fled on wings of our own making,
We have left our owners bare;
Sons of Honor! fed on praises,
Flutt'ring high on fancied worth,
Lo! the fickle air that raises
Brings us down to parent Earth;
Learned Sophs! in systems jaded,
Who for new ones daily call,
Cease at length by us persuaded,
Every leaf must have a fall;
Youths! tho' yet no losses grieve you,
Gay in health and manly grace,
Let not cloudless skies deceive you
Summer gives to Autumn place;
Venerable Sires! grown hoary,
Hither turn th' unwilling eye,
Think amidst your falling glory,
Autumn tells a Winter nigh;
Yearly in our course returning,
Messengers of shortest stay,
Thus we preach this truth unerring,
Heav'n and Earth shall pass away!
On the Tree of Life Eternal
Man! let all thy hopes be staid, Which alone, for ever vernal,
Bears a leaf which ne'er shall fade!
The Rose, the sweet blooming Rose,
Ere from the trees its torn,
Is like the charms which Beauty shews,
In Life's exulting morn!
But oh how soon its sweets are gone,
How soon it withering lies,
So when the Eve of Life comes on,
Sweet beauty fades and dies:
Then since the fairest form that's made,
Soon withering we shall find,
Let us possess what ne'er will fade,
The beauties of the Mind!
All hail! benignant name, sweet Charity!
So prompt to pity-eager to supply,
Blest emanation of the heavenly mind,
Friend of the world and parent of mankind!
That pines in dungeons-anxious looks around,
And drops the lucid tear where woes abound,
Nor tears alone-O! dear to man and God,
Let ev'ry breast provide thee an abode,
Let every pulse beat high with thee-and thrill
Pervade each soul and all intentions fill,
Let thy kind beams on humble peasants shine,
Be thine to pity-to relieve be thine!
And thou, Religion! soul transforming flame,
(Let earth thy power-let heav'n thy praise pro
claim)
Whoe'er 's possessed of thee could wish no more,
And without thee a Cræsus must be poor.
Come then, Religion! and the toiling hind
Shall more than bread in thine embraces find;
Thy precious balm distill'd upon his heart,
His wants subside-his sorrows all depart;
He sees his storm-beat cottage proudly rise,
More than a palace-half a paradise!
Lo! he who erst repos'd his weary head,
A stone his pillow-the cold ground his bed,
When to his leaping heart thy joys were giv❜n,
Exclaim'd with rapture-'Tis the gate of Heav'n !
"Stand still-refulgent orb of day!"
A Jewish hero cries--
So shall, at last, an Angel say,
And tear it from the skies!
A flame intenser than the Sun,
Shall melt his golden urn,
Time's empty glass no more shall run,
Nor human years return!
Then with immortal splendor bright,
That glorious orb shall rise,
Which thro' eternity shall light
The new created skies!
Thou Sun of Nature roll along
And bear our years away
The sooner shall we join the song
Of everlasting Day!
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