MORNING.

TO western climes as speed the GOBLIN crew,

The starry SENTINELS of Heaven retire,

Save ONE bright form, that o’er the trembling dew

Mingles his sapphire beam with golden fire.

Deep growls the BEAST of CARNAGE, from the waste

Retracing slow the steps he trod before:

The VULTURE rears his crest, and snuffs the blast,

Scenting afar the savage stain’d with gore.

From the rude apex of yon mountain’s brow,

Majestic see the ardent eagle rise,

Hailing with joy the warm diffusive glow,

He meets the sun-beam in the midway skies.

By gates, and bars, and circling guards, secured,

The PERSIAN TYRANT groans in beauty’s arms,

He knows no joy, no peace, no power assured,

TO HONOR dead, and dead to NATURE’s charms.

What tho’ victorious chiefs his realms extend,

In each victorious chief he fears a foe;

While in his own dark heart, a deadly fiend

Prompts to black deeds, then echoes, GUILT and WOE.

His days tumultuous, and his nights unblest;

His VIZIERS faithless, and his KHANS unsound;

Visions of terror break convulsive rest,

And ev’n the rays of MORN have power to wound.

The captive wretch thro’ life that bears his chain,

The virgin doom’d to prove his brutal lust,

The tortured victims that his rage sustain,

May hope in death the portion of the JUST.

But can that HOPE pervade the TYRANT’s soul,

Long sunk in crimes, and daily acting new,

Remorseless, spurning MERCY’s mild controul?

I thank thee, Heaven! I’ve bid his realms adieu.

Here, MORN! thy lovely beams unsullied shine,

Pure as those beams, thy breezes wing their way;

HEALTH and CONTENT and LIBERTY are mine;

And like the FAWN my sportive fancies play.

The soul unfetter’d, undistraught with cares,

Heedless of all the din that jars mankind,

Far from life’s discord, pride, and sensual snares,

Hails each effusion of TH’ ETERNAL MIND.

SEES that effusion, NATURE! thro’ thy reign;

FEELS it in pure emotions of the heart;

HEARS it melodious in the warbler’s strain;

TASTES it in all that can delight impart:

While flowery blooms that ev’n these rocks adorn,

Breathe it in FRAGRANCE to the opening MORN.