Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1837-09-27
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p o e r II Y.
NATURE.
BY ROBERT p. MoREIs.

- ~SHSAA Il GORkis-
"Nature.
That formed this world so beautiful, that spread,
Earths lap with plenty, aud life's smallest chord
Strung to unchanging union that gave
The happy birds their dwellings in the grove,
That yielded TO the wandeTer of the deep
The lowly silence of the unfathomed main,
Aud filled the meanest worm that crawls 10 dust
With spirit, thought, and love.-SHELLEY.
Heavens earliest born and still unsullied child
Whose smile is morning and whose frown is
night,
Around whose brow Earth's earliest roses smiled:
Thine was the glow of beauty; thine the light,
That Gle AIMED DER Paradise, when Woman there
Fresh from her Makers hand faultess thing,
With dove-iike eyes, and shsdowy, golden hair,
From grovcllng beast or bird on treless wing
Won homage as she passed! Thine too the glow
That flushed her cheek, or beamed from her
white brow.
Beauty is thine in all her charming dyes
Color, and light, anu shade, and sound, aud
song,
Morn's purple hues, and evenings golden skies,
The whispering summer breeze--the whirl-
wind strong;
Night with her starry train, a shining band
Each wandering meteor Of yon trackess deep;
Italia's greenest spot-Zaharas burning sand
The thunder's roll the lightning's liyid leap
The lark's light note the murmurs of the bee
All speak OF Heaven, of Order, and of Thee.
The seasons are thy landmarks, and the flowers
Fair embems Of thy beauiy-bending grain,
MADE golden by the sunshine's magic power
he lowing tempest-and the gentle rain
or summers softer nood-blossom and fruit
The bending willow, and the creeping vine
The rafting hail storm, and the snow flake mute;
The time worn oak, the cedar and the pine
Niagara's roaring fall-the noiseless rill-
Were Natures at the dawn-are Natures still.
Mighty or gentle, as may suit thy mood
The wbirlwind and the earthquake tell thy
power
Thy hand scooped out old Occan-Etna pil'd
Bent the first rainbow painted the first f1ow'r
But loyellest is thy face in Springs glad hour
The meadows green, the " aters leaping free
The earth yet wet with morning dewy shower;
The sunlight cleaning DER the distant sea
When new born winds their freshness first dis
close,
And wanton with the violet and the rose
Thy temples are upon the lofty steps
vi Andes and the Appennes- and where
The coral insect tolls beneath the deep,
Or the lone Arab, pours his soul in prayer
The mcanest intellect--the mightiest mind
Master and slave alike amid thy power
Monarch and nation-hero, prince, and hind
Must yield 10 Natures tributary hour
Before Thee forests tremble, mountains nod F.;
How feeble Art 10 Thee worm, a God {"
oh, Nature is il strange forest child,
That tawny tenant Of the bonndless West
with none To lead his mind beyond the wild,
Or point his thoughts TO the regions of the blest;
should deem thy glories godlike, aud fall down
A savage worshipper Should sec in Thee
The spirit Of ths lesping cataract--
The power Of Lite, and Death, and Destiny
Should, as the Lightning flashes through the sky,
Believe il fire IRON some immortal eyci
No-rather marvel that the letter'd fool
The worm whom Heaven has given the pow
or of thought
Seeing the slories, and the magic rule
That governs all thy works should set at
naught
The lessons that they teach--should mock the
Power
That call'd from chaos all that mngles here
The Ioltest mountain, and the meanest flower
Earth, air, and ocean-each celestial sphere
Should look from sea TO sky from dust 10 man
And sec no God in all the wondrous plan