PO ETRY. 
ternal Being ; thoé that ’midst the blaze 
Of seraph hosts—what sudden tremors chill? 
Oh! lift not up, my soul, thy venturous gaze, 
Down—sink into thyself—be mute—he still. 
ELEGY II. 
TO WISDOM. 
From the Same. 
ESIDE this russet heath, this forest drear, 
That strews with yellow leaves the moistened plain ; 
Here, where the green path winds, ah Wisdom! here, 
Did once my daring lyre to thee complain. 
Soft was the midnight air that sooth’d my frame, 
In thought severe had pass’d the studious day : 
Cold paus’d the spirits, and th’ ethereal flame 
In dim and languid musings died away. 
Calm, silent, all—I seemed with step forlorn 
Singly to wander on a desert world ; 
I started when the bird first hail’d the morn, 
That wide had now his reddening clouds unfurl’d, 
Returning seasons since have pass’d away ; 
Oft has the spring with violets deck’d the vale, 
The bee oft humm’d along the summer day, 
And the lake darken’d in the wintry gale. 
In youth’s bright morn how boldly on the mind, 
Rise the wild forms of thought in colours new $ 
‘Tis Time, and Time alone, whose skill refin’d 
The picture slowly gives to nature true. 
Thee, Wisdom, could I chide, thy gifts decry ? 
Turn from thy bliss by restless ardor fired ? 
——How like these idle leaves that withered lie, 
Seem now the fancies that my soul inspired ! 
“Who smile at fortune, and who conquer pain? 
Whose is the world in fame’s bright visions shewn ? 
Who wake th’ unconscious mind, the barren plain, 
And wield great nature’s strength from reason’s throne? 
If thy blest votaries mourn, oh where shall end 
Man’s wayward sorrows, and his wishes blind ; 
If from thy sacred paths his steps he bend, 
What rest, what refuge shall his wanderings find. 
1067 
Not 
