POETRY. 987 



From the crest of the mountain I gaze upon thee ; 



1 gaze, — and am changed at the sight ; 



For mine eye is illumin'd, by genius takes flight, 



My soul, like the sun, with a glance 



Embraces the boundless expanse, 



And moves on thy waters, wherever they roll. 



From the day-darting zone to the night^shadow d pole. 



JMy spirit descends where the day-spring is born, 



Where the billows are rubies on fire, 



And the breezes that rock the light cradle of morn 



Are sweet as the Phoenix's pyre : 



O regions of beauty, of love, and desire '. 



O gardens of Eden ! in vain 



Placed far oi> the fathomless main, 



Where nature with innocence dwelt in her youth, 



When pure was her heart, and unbroken her truth. 



But now the fair rivers of Paradise wind 



Through countries and kingdoms o'crthrown ; 



Where the giant of tyranny crushes mankind, 



Where he reigns, — and will soon reign alone ; 



For wide aud more wide, o'er the sun-beaming zone, 



He stretches his hundred-fold arms. 



Despoiling, destroying its charms ; 



Beneath his broad footstep the Ganges is dry, 



And the mountains recoil from the flash of his eye. 



Thus the pestilent Upas, the hydra of trees, 



Its t)Ough o'er the wilderness spreads. 



And with livid contagion polluting the breeze, 



Its mildewing influence sheds; _ .., j 



The birds on the wing, and the flowers in their beds, 



Are slain by its venomous breath. 



That darkens the noon-day with death, 



And pale ghosts of travellers wander around, 



While their mouldering skeletons whiten the ground. 



Ah I why hath Jehovah, in forming the world, 



With the waters divifled the land. 



His ramparts of rocks round the continent hurl d, 



And cradled the deep in his hand, 



If man may transgress his eternal command, 



And leap o'er the bounds of his birth 



To ravage the utttirmost earth, 



Aud violate nations and realms that shonjd be 



DisUnct ai tti« billows, yet onoas the sea . 



There 



