Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1845-09-03
lCoMMUNICATED.l
CONSCIENCE

CONSCIENCE.
From Poems. Secret and Moral, by s''s.'..
"There-he forever ihere"-ihe murderer said
'And prest his heel contempuous Oh the dead.
No terrots haunt the well concerning mind {!
Vengeance my aim, thy gold leave behind -
'Clutehed In thy grasp, be thy own knife SURVEYED
'Thus-so may death seli.scught thy name degrade
MY Steel that did the deed. this lake shall hide
'Heie-ruJt beneath tho all cOnccalng tide
The long decen, these mounting bubbles tell
Down, down-siill Jeeper-tO his funcIed h.
but why this needless care the poor unknopR-
My garment blpodiess-no Iiian heard the yruln-
Nor he the iubled monarch OF the skies
lie spoke, and fixed ON heaven his iron eyes.
No ierrors haunt the well .conce'tng mind -
Say'st thou, when March unchainS the midnight wind
When the uil blast, as Alp descending Pc
Whdrls through the rocky streight the liquid snow,
Djwn the vale driving with resistlcss course,
Pours on thy walls It, congregated force;
When lettering chimuey- bclluw DER thy head
And the floor quakes beneath thy seepess bed 2
No terrors haun, thee .-Ssyst thou when the storm
Bids oil its horrors, each in widest form,
From adverse winds on wings U! thunder haste,
And close around thee the naked waste:
Bids at each flash untimtly night retire,
And Opes and shuts the living vault ui FIRE:
When from each bursting G., ui the arrOwy flame
Seems at thy central breast 10 point its aim,
While crash crash rodoublss from on high,
As though the SHATTERED fabric OF the ky
Would rush IN hidcous ruin through the air,
10 "heIH Nhe gullty NTeich whom lightuings spare
No ter.ors haunt thee !-Lo, IT'S Winters reign;
His broad baud p!unging IN the Atlantic muia,
Lii's into mountiin piles the boiling deep,
Aud bounds with wales vi death each billuwy sweep
Now, when thy bark. tho dire ascent surpls,,
Turns 10 the black abyss the downward mast;
In THAT dread pause while yet the dizzy Prov
fols'd on tho verge o'erhlngs the gulp oh below
NOW press Thy conscious bosom, aud declaIo
II guilt has raised thro5s OF terror there.
SILL art thou proof I'm sleep see thee lail
Dreams, by the past inspired, thy sleep invade.
Houseless and droara plain expands III view;
There travels one like--thy fury slew:
Couch'd in the brake, ruiian from his den
Starts forth, aud acts thy bloody deed agniu,
Like thine his men, like thine his iron stare
FIi'd IN defiance the vault ofsn.
I.o. ne secure he quits III unp!under'd dead,
Wide weltering seas Of fire bcfore him spread
With irenzied step he hurr.s the shore,
SaHeks, Piungos headung aud u no more.
Thou wak'si, and sm-i in scorn-IIas Heaven no dar
Potent Ia reach that adaiaauIinc hsaul
Yes, lie whose viCwlcss gales the forest bend,
Whose icrnlust means attain the nehiicst cnd,
Touches the seeret spring that Opcs the cell
Where Conscience luk-, and sum5erins horrors DIV Ell
Lo as the wretch his careless path pursues,
Struck by his foot a IuSted knife he views;
In thought the blade ccnceal'd from mortal eyes
Beneath the lake his troubled soul d-scrics
In wi d dismsy his cloudrd senses swim,
Cold streams Vt terror battle each ahivoring limb 4:
Then with uew fires in every nerve no burns,
To earth, To Heaven, hrs flashing eyebali turns
Bures with frantic hand the avenging knife
Deep IN his breast, and renders life for lite.