WHAT mean those deep’ning shouts that rend the sky,

Join’d with the yell of ANGUISH and DISMAY:

Loud peals of thunder that approach so nigh,

And clouds of smoke that veil the face of day?

 

At the shrill blasting of the BOUKZAN’s* breath,

Lo! the fierce OUZBEK rushes to the plain,

Where ASMOUGH* wields the scimetar of DEATH,

And RAPINE riots o’er the mangled slain.

 

Alternate RAGE and TERROR rule each band,

As savage FURY floats the field with gore;

DESTRUCTION wildly waves her blazing brand,

And red with carnage, wolf-like, howls for more.

 

When sinks the sun beyond the CASPIAN main,

And HORROR hails the gloomy fiend of night;

Sad—sullen BONDAGE clanks his iron chain,

And wandering spirits claim the funeral rite.

 

For deeds like these shall endless praises flow?

Shall blood-stain’d VICTORY swell the trump of FAME,

Has GLORY placed her TAJE on TIMOUR’s* brow,

And join’d ‘immortal’ to KHAN ZINGI’s* name?

 

GOD of the just! O let me ne’er repine,

Or, while those glaring meteors strike my view,

Heave the deep sigh—wish impiously to shine,

And bid this calm, this blest retreat adieu!

 

Ah! what avails the splendid pomp of state,

The boast of RICHES, or imperial sway;

While on the restless bosoms of the great

Beams not CONTENT her mild, celestial ray?

 

Far from heart-hard’ning scenes of public strife,

Far from AMBITION’s call, and fields of blood,

She walks with PEACE the vale of humble life,

And smiles serenely on the WISE and GOOD.