Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1811-09-09
3Beftrp.

*
Klopstock," from the pen Of the interest
ing Miss Smith, place in your paper you
Will obiige correspondent, and crafty
several of your readers.
Alas ! they find not ore the other--they
Who for each other and for love were made
Now in far distant chimes their LOT is cast,
And now long ages roll their course be
tween" KIopstocl's ODE 10 BOOMER.
Thus blessed spirit I - thy deep complaint
In all things else TO heavens high will re-
sign'd
This only, seem'd too hard and hard in.
deed
It's, that time and space should intervene
To part those souls BY their Creators hand
Attun'd 70 concord; seeming thus ordsin'd
To mingle sounds il heavenly harmony,
Yet sunder'd now so far, no breeze can
wait
The dying notes Of one, to ybrste on
The others sympai hetic chords. Nor is
| This all. Doom'd each 10 mix with other
notes,
Notes, not perhaps i'll sounding, yet with
them
Earring in discord insupportable.
This, this indeed is hard. II tempts suspi
cion
OfProvidence eternal, Temps TO think
| This great machine Of nature is dersng'd.
| Vain babbling reason, peace Now Klop.
stock knows,
He knows and bids thee sing. This TOO
IS trial
! For trial were we sent 10 dwell on earth,
And what severer could be found than this /?
| What other is there 10 virtu0us mind
That sees the nothingness Of present life,
The glory of the future ---aDd with love
Unmix'd looks up to him, the only good !
Sickness or health, riches or poverty,
To such mind are nothing, easy weights
Ii trindship help to bear them but 10 live
| With those whose every word and gesture,
shrll
DESCENDANT thro' our frame,-thisis severe,
Unceasing trial But the more severe
The appointed trial, the louder does il call
Our courage up, and bid us instant arm
| With Hesyenwsrd patience and submission
meek;
Trusting when time and space shall be no
more,
To meet those souls from which they now
divide Us.
If now possessing them too happy here,
This earth were heaven, and nothing L # to
wish,
In mercy God forbds US here 10 taste
A long continuance Of such happiness:
| There's yet another cause celestial Klop-
stock,
| Why souls in unison can seldom meet.
! They must be cast in natures finest m ould,
| Of the sublimer essence of Creation:
| And such are scsrce--st intervals sent
down,
AS were OF old the prophets, 20 recall
| The baser herd to duty's sacred PATH
! To dress old truths in an attractive garb,-
To show men "yirtue in herself how love-
w.
To explore the depths Of science Ito unyeJ
! The mysteries of nature-and beyond
The narrow sphere Of human ken, to make
Discoveries, which mght damp the rea-
sohmg pride
Of dabblers in philosophy, and prove
That things thy Cannot understand, exist,
| That other men have higher faculties,
And thence might lead them 10 imagine,
bei*8s
Yet higher in the scale of intellect
Truths which no human mind could ever
grasp
There, to my weak perception, seem some
ends
By providence proposed in sending down
AT times. those high iAtelligences,
| And those were sure not answered If they
came
At once, or in a cluster sn the siege;
Then other parts and space oftime would
want
| Their share oflustre and to fill the void,
| III more Of first rate genius were produced
This worlds affairs would run into canfu
sion,
Too mean, too little 10 employ such minds.
And thus, immortal KlopstocE, souls ike
thine,
Of friendship worthy, because capable,
Can scarce expect to meet their like on
earth
Since for the general good they come, and
mol their
Private happines better sttain'd,
BY staying in their native country, heaven,
1T with their equals only they convers'd.
IT'S true tAou vast allttle while most best:
But 'twas 10 the end that thy example,
When Divine command recall'd the urea
sure lent,
Night prove an useful lesson 10 The world
Teaching more feelingly than prccep,s
could,
Loving as thou didst to resign ike thee