XVII.

‘Let Vanity adorn the marble tomb
‘With trophies, rhymes, and scutcheons of renown,
‘In the deep dungeon of some Gothic dome,
‘Where night and desolation ever frown.
‘Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down;
‘Where a green grassy turf is all I crave,
‘With here and there a violet bestrown,
‘Fast by a brook, or fountain’s murmuring wave;
‘And many an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave.

XVIII.

‘And thither let the village swain repair;
‘And, light of heart, the village maiden gay,
‘To deck with flowers her half-dishevelled hair,
‘And celebrate the merry morn of May.
‘There let the shepherd’s pipe, the live-long day,
‘Fill all the grove with love’s bewitching woe;
‘And when mild Evening comes with mantle grey,
‘Let not the blooming band make haste to go;
‘No ghost, nor spell, my long and last abode shall know.

XIX.

‘For though I fly to ’scape from fortune’s rage,
‘And bear the scars of envy, spite, and scorn,
‘Yet with mankind no horrid war I wage,
‘Yet with no impious spleen my breast is torn:
‘For virtue lost, and ruined man, I mourn.
‘O Man! creation’s pride, heaven’s darling child,
‘Whom Nature’s best, divinest, gifts adorn,
‘Why from thy home are truth and joy exiled,
‘And all thy favourite haunts with blood and tears defiled!

XX.

‘Along yon glittering sky what glory streams!
‘What majesty attends night’s lovely queen!
‘Fair laugh our vallies in the vernal beams;
‘And mountains rise, and oceans roll between,
‘And all conspire to beautify the scene.
‘But, in the mental world, what chaos drear!
‘What forms of mournful, loathsome, furious mien!
‘O when shall that eternal morn appear,
‘These dreadful forms to chace, this chaos dark to clear!

XXI.

‘O Thou, at whose creative smile, yon heaven,
‘In all the pomp of beauty, life, and light,
‘Rose from the abyss; when dark Confusion, driven
‘Down down the bottomless profound of night,
‘Fled, where he ever flies thy piercing sight!
‘O glance on these sad shades one pitying ray,
‘To blast the fury of oppressive might,
‘Melt the hard heart to love and mercy’s sway,
‘And cheer the wandering soul, and light him on the way.’