Classic Poem

B ARRICADO'D with white bone,
Lab'ring under many a groan,
Curtain'd in my room with red,
And smoothly laid in crimson bed ;
'Tis I dissolve the stony heart,
And comfort's balmy joys impart,
'Tis I can rule the wav'ring croud,
Or tame the haughty and the proud ;
'Tis I o'er beauty oft prevail,
That queen of life's capricious vale ;
'Tis I can fire the warrior's soul,
Or passion's giddy voice control ;
Senates have felt my lordly sway,
And kings my magic pow'r obey;
'Tis I, so garrulously gay,
That rouze the dames whose heads are grey ;
Gilded o'er with truth and lies,
Under many a mixt disguise,
I dress to cheat unpractis'd youth,
With falshood's garb for honest truth;
X ANTIPPE bold, in dead of night,
Taught S OCRATES to own my might!

Strange enchantress, motely creature,
Oddest prodigy of nature!
As raging billows, now I'm wild,
And now as warbling fountains mild;
Now religion's laws proclaiming,
And now the good and just defaming;
Now cementing patriotism,
And now in church provoking schism.
Enough, O muse ! — kind reason cries,
The man who has this monster dies !
Expound my riddle , if you're able,
For 'twas this confounded B ABEL !