IV. "Where no new Sex with glands nutritious feeds,
Nurs'd in her womb, the solitary breeds; 160
No Mother's care their early steps directs,
Warms in her bosom, with her wings protects;
The clime unkind, or noxious food instills
To embryon nerves hereditary ills;
The feeble births [acquired diseases] chase,
Till Death extinguish the degenerate race.
"[So grafted trees] with shadowy summits rise,
Spread their fair blossoms, and perfume the skies;
Till canker taints the vegetable blood,
Mines round the bark, and feeds upon the wood. 170
So, years successive, from perennial roots
The wire or bulb with lessen'd vigour shoots;
Till curled leaves, or barren flowers, betray
A waning lineage, verging to decay;
Or till, amended by connubial powers,
Rise seedling progenies from sexual flowers.
"E'en where unmix'd the breed, in sexual tribes
Parental taints the nascent babe imbibes;
Eternal war the Gout and Mania wage
With fierce uncheck'd hereditary rage; 180
Sad Beauty's form foul Scrofula surrounds
With bones distorted, and putrescent wounds;
[And, fell Consumption]! thy unerring dart
Wets its broad wing in Youth's reluctant heart.
"With pausing step, at night's refulgent noon,
Beneath the sparkling stars, and lucid moon,
Plung'd in the shade of some religious tower,
The slow bell counting the departed hour,
O'er gaping tombs where shed umbrageous Yews
On mouldering bones their cold unwholesome dews; 190
While low aerial voices whisper round,
And moondrawn spectres dance upon the ground;
Poetic Melancholy loves to tread,
And bend in silence o'er the countless Dead;
Marks with loud sobs infantine Sorrows rave,
And wring their pale hands o'er their Mother's grave;
Hears on the new-turn'd sod with gestures wild
The kneeling Beauty call her buried child;
Upbraid with timorous accents Heaven's decrees,
And with sad sighs augment the passing breeze. 200
'Stern Time,' She cries, 'receives from Nature's womb
Her beauteous births, and bears them to the tomb;
Calls all her sons from earth's remotest bourn,
And from the closing portals none return!'
V. Urania paused,—upturn'd her streaming eyes,
And her white bosom heaved with silent sighs;
With her the Muse laments the sum of things,
And hides her sorrows with her meeting wings;
Long o'er the wrecks of lovely Life they weep,
Then pleased reflect, "to die is but to sleep;" 210
From Nature's coffins to her cradles turn,
Smile with young joy, with new affection burn.
And now the Muse, with mortal woes impress'd,
Thus the fair Hierophant again address'd.
—"Ah me! celestial Guide, thy words impart
Ills undeserved, that rend the nascent heart!
O, Goddess, say, if brighter scenes improve
Air-breathing tribes, and births of sexual love?"—
The smiling Fair obeys the inquiring Muse,
And in sweet tones her grateful task pursues. 220
"Now on broad pinions from the realms above
Descending Cupid seeks the Cyprian grove;
To his wide arms [enamour'd Psyche] springs,
And clasps her lover with aurelian wings.
A purple sash across His shoulder bends,
And fringed with gold the quiver'd shafts suspends;
The bending bow obeys the silken string,
And, as he steps, the silver arrows ring.
Thin folds of gauze with dim transparence flow
O'er Her fair forehead, and her neck of snow; 230
The winding woof her graceful limbs surrounds,
Swells in the breeze, and sweeps the velvet grounds;
As hand in hand along the flowery meads
His blushing bride the quiver'd hero leads;
Charm'd round their heads pursuing Zephyrs throng,
And scatter roses, as they move along;
Bright beams of Spring in soft effusion play,
And halcyon Hours invite them on their way.
"Delighted Hymen hears their whisper'd vows,
And binds his chaplets round their polish'd brows, 240
Guides to his altar, ties the flowery bands,
And as they kneel, unites their willing hands.
'Behold, he cries, Earth! Ocean! Air above,
'And hail the Deities of Sexual Love!
'All forms of Life shall this fond Pair delight,
'And sex to sex the willing world unite;
'Shed their sweet smiles in Earth's unsocial bowers,
'Fan with soft gales, and gild with brighter hours;
'Fill Pleasure's chalice unalloy'd with pain,
'And give Society his golden chain.' 250
"Now young Desires, on purple pinions borne,
Mount the warm gales of Manhood's rising morn;
With softer fires through virgin bosoms dart,
Flush the pale cheek, and goad the tender heart.
Ere the weak powers of transient Life decay,
And Heaven's ethereal image melts away;
Love with nice touch renews the organic frame,
Forms a young Ens, another and the same;
Gives from his rosy lips the vital breath,
And parries with his hand the shafts of death; 260
[While Beauty broods] with angel wings unfurl'd
O'er nascent life, and saves the sinking world.
"Hence on green leaves the sexual Pleasures dwell,
And Loves and Beauties crowd the blossom's bell;
The wakeful Anther in his silken bed
O'er the pleased Stigma bows his waxen head;
With meeting lips and mingling smiles they sup
Ambrosial dewdrops [from the nectar'd cup];
Or buoy'd in air the plumy Lover springs,
And seeks his panting bride on Hymen-wings. 270