Classic Poem

I.

W HY should the melancholy Muse
Repress the ardour of the soul,
And o'er young Hope's enchanting views,
Devolve affliction's sable stole?
While fancy's groves inviting spread,
Shall she the vale of mourning tread?
Disease and guilt inhabit there.
Will she the cup of blessing spurn
To drink at sorrow's bitter urn,
Which stands, with cypress crown'd, in thy dark courts, Despair?

II.

Has he, th' unalterable Mind,
Whose high behests we must obey,
Call'd us to being, yet assign'd
That being to distress a prey?
In heav'n's wide court, by angels trod,
In honour of th' all bounteous God,
Are endless hallelujahs sung:
And when of chaos, rude and drear,
He form'd this planetary sphere,
With hymns of praise and joy the Empyrean rung.

III.

Lo! the great Maker's eye divine
At once the wide creation view'd:
It all fulfill'd his vast design;
He saw, and he pronounc'd it good.
Crude shapeless matter, by him wrought,
Assum'd his radiant form, and thought,
And man arose with life endu'd.
To him the new-born earth was given,
Nor did the golden gates of heav'n,
From his enraptur'd view, the eternal world exclude.

IV.

But when the proud apostate dar'd
The goodly region to invade;
When man, by artful wiles ensnar'd,
Proudly aspir'd and disobey'd, —
Aloft He rear'd his flaming crest,
And thus his hellish bands address'd:
" 'Tis done: The work of ruin's done.
" No more the choral sons of morn
" Shall hail yon planets newly born,
" Nor tell of favour'd man, creation's youngest son.

V.

" Incens'd the stern Jehovah sees
" His views defeated by my guile.
" Death shall the guilty beings seize.
" Destruction sinks that starry pile. " —
But as he gaz'd, in vain desire,
To see earth's funeral blaze aspire,
Behold the work of mercy shines.
Her plea, eternal Justice hears,
Abates our contrite parents tears;
And to repentant man a Saviour God assigns.