Classic Poem

INSCRIBED TO MISS P .

C HLOE , I boast celestial date,
 Ere time began to roll;
So wide my power, my sceptre spurns
 The limits of the pole.

When from the mystic womb of night
 The Almighty call'd the earth;
I smil'd upon the infant world,
 And grac'd the wondrous birth.

Through the vast realms of boundless space,
 I traverse uncontroll'd;
And starry orbs of proudest blaze
 Inscribe my name in gold.

There's not a monarch in the north
 But bends the suppliant knee;
The haughty sultan waves his pow'r,
 And owns superior me.

Both by the savage and the saint
 My empire stands confest;
I thaw the ice on Greenland's coast,
 And fire the Scythian's breast.

To me the gay aërial tribes
 Their glittering plumage owe;
With all the variegated pride
 That decks the feather'd beau.

The meanest reptiles of the land
 My bounty too partake;
I paint the insect's trembling wing,
 And gild the crested snake.

Survey the nations of the deep,
 You'll there my power behold;
My pencil drew the pearly scale,
 And fin bedropt with gold.

I give the virgin's lip to glow,
 I claim the crimson dye;
Mine is the rose which spreads the cheek,
 And mine the brilliant eye.

Then speak, my fair; for surely thou
 My name canst best descry;
Who gave to thee with lavish hands
 What thousands I deny.