Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1824-12-23
POETRY.
PAINS OF The IMAGiNArioN.


feeling, by every one who delights 10
elegant composition, and bas proper
sense OF cur national reputation for liter
AZURE
go! Thou eternal, Being pure and bright
Who dwell st on high, in uncreated light,
Around whose throne the bymning seraphs
sing,
And choirs of angels sweepthe golden string;
Who crown'd with glory, sis'st ABOVE the
spheres
Unchanged, Interchangeable by rolling years,
And from the fountain of exha1stIess love,
Pour'st down thy streams ofmercy from above
Sole refuge of the mind. when cares distress,
and on the heart life's thickenins sorrows
press,
How hast thYself, obscurely seen below,
Been made by man the bitter source of woe
Through reasons glass, projections half dis
cern'd
Are lost in shade, or into dimness turned,
And what the image wants when thus descry'd,
Ispromptly skstch'd N tints of human pride.
Hence Superstition has in every cline,
Those structures rear'd which triumph over
time,
And stand as beacons age has left behind,
To mark the blindness, folly, of mankind,
Who, lost in darkness, hewd their gods ofstone,
And raised their tyrant idols to throne,
Or form'd them deties, whom fear had made,
ia lawless kings and despots they obey'd.
Hence rose that mighty fabric of the mind,
ByEgypt's priests and Grecian bards desisn'd,
Which, like thefrowning pyramids of Nile,
Survives rude and antiquated pile.
Luxuriant Fancy, fasour'd by cline,
Where all she saw was beauteous or sublime,
Half grave .halfsportiQe. wantonmg in thought,
Those mythologic dreams s fictions wrought;
Orr barbarous age. perchancs reviv'd
Glimnerings oftrnth from other lands derlv'd.
twas she that fill'd the skies, the earth and
seas
With mystic powers, her own divinities,
tTill every moontain, every grove she trod,
And every stream was haunted by god;
Folly ador'd and Superstition knelt
10 imag'd passions bards had only felt.
Imagination's gay or gloomy spell,
Now made paradise and now he'll,
Elysian isles, where Joy forever relgns,
Or realms resoundins with eternal pains. " Sc
Hence Pluto's shadowy throne and empire
~ sprung. saf - r0g
And tabled woes by ancient poets sung, "
Orcus, and Styx, and lakes with burning shores,
And walls of adamant, and brazen doors.
The cup of Fantalus, with tolls that mock
His burning lip; the vulture and the rock,
The stone Of, Sisyphus, lxion's wheel,
And all the fortunes damned spirits feel
These and the thousand woes by heather
creeds ,...-.s,
Ordained in punishment of guilty deeds,
Are but the shadows genius has design'd,
TO paint that beil, which hives within the mind.
Thrice happy age, when truths resistless
sway
Hath swept these wild, fantastic dreams away,
And lieht unclouded beaming from above,
Reveals faith of purity and love. pee
Oh tspeed that epoch, that millenial time. 80
When Gods own word shall spread from cline
80 to cline:
When the bright starof Bethlehem shall illume
The earth scattering the darkness ofthe tomb
The bioodless banner of the cross unfurl'd,
Shall wave in triumph DER the peaceful world,
And from the rising to the setting sun,
All realms, uniting, mingIe into one!
Then Superstition shall erect no more
Her pagan affairs. stand with human gore;
No hecatombs shall burn, no victims bleed,
No bloody rites fulfil barbarous creed,
Bot the pure incense of the heart shall rise,
And breathe to heaven grateful sacrifice.
Then Earring sects from bitter strife shall cease,
Forget their feuds, and harmOniZe in peace;
Nor then, as now, with rage and passion bind,
A separate heaven, variant godhead find
Man shall not then his brother doom to feel
The bigot's scourge, the faggot, and the wheel,
Or plunge in dungeons. no pelsss and alone,
Damn'd for creed not fashioned like his own !;
But in that day, discordant hearts shall blend,
= And all before one common altar bend, -
Till christian love, shall in her WIDE embrace
Hold as one brotherhood the human race.
Who withoutpain surveys the historic page,
Black with ambition, tyranny and rage,
Whh ign rance, error, luxury, lust, and pride,
Virtue depressed, and baseness deifed
Tracts of long centuries, barren, waste, and
6 drear,
With few memorials to direct or cheer
Empires and realms, Ger which the wing of
20 time
Hath swept ,andsleft no trace save that of crime;
Cities in rum sunk, despoil'd by war,
To swell the trophies of some conqueror's car
Remnants fart and splendour, which the lust
OF waDton rule hath trampled into dust
Regions ofdesolation, fields Of fame
Crimson d with blood, to win hero's name.
Sucn IS the record ofpast ages, fill'd
With tales of wo, by which the heart is chilPd,
Deeds from whose dye recoils the sickened
mind,
And asks, are these the annals of mankind9
Fen at this liberal epoch, when the light
acknowledge beams, and freedom claims her
right,
What relics still of barbarous times remain,
And fill the philanthroplc breast with pain
What hordes Of slaves some lawless despot own,
d., - 4 4. fhrnp