The Empire County argus., 1856-07-26
CHILD GAvIN's PILGRIMAGE

PARTH
III.
On-on with lonely step Sir Gavin pressd
His mind still brooding DER the mournfu past,
And strong emotions, CHERISHED unexpressed-
Only in sighs, revealed his grief-the vast
Plain spreading like boundless waste
Until in silver sheen the Nmeha-
The Rubcon of law and savage life,
Sped on its way to greet the parent Cav,
Sir Gavin passd the classic stream in rapture rife.
".
Oh joy ecstatic to the troubled breast
To tread thy haowed ground, sweet liberty
To know and feel, thet here at least is rest,
Nor may We longer from laws bloodhounds fly
But stand our ground, and bailiff dogs defy,
To feel thy fingers (as the Koran tells,
Azrae strips the body from the soul,)
Tear up those ink and paper marks that swell
So often to the peace pursuing judgment roll.
And here, what monarch of mighty land
Can feel himself so absolute as he
Who, lodging, hiding from the hellish band
Of vampires, feels at least that he is free,
No more to crave and bend the suppant knee,
And glancing to his distant mountains grey
The shadowy outline of his realm confined,
He stalks the monarch of his wide survey
Nor cares one d-n for all that's left behind.
VI.
'Tis true no Hour, such as Cynthia fair
With whom to waste the soft vouptuous hour,
Nor midnight mem'ries to passion dear,
Can weave loves garland in his rosy bower,
But freedom STILL is freedom-without dover;
And then the mind mighty kingdom is,
That rules and governs, in its unstayd will,
Sir Gavin paused, and saw that all was his
And starv'd ambition drank and drank its fill.
VII
Through the dim haze that skirts the distant view,
Like some lone castle of the olden time
Rearing its granite outline-drapd in blue
Nor can the eye its contour scarce define
The Court House Rock marks the horizon line,
Reared by the Giant Arm that bears the world
Upon its mighty snews, when old time,
Was young in years, and earquake power hurl'd
The Bute's tall column TO its peak sublime!
VIII.
Sweet contemplation, from thy quiet throne
Descend and minge with his spirit calm,
Fond natures kindest offerings are thine own,
For thou canst yield the broken hearted balm
Making the hardest, soft-the coldest warm,
Be thou, companion to his lonely way
Whilst wan dring through this maze without plan
When caution guides him, in the uncertain way
Oftimes beneath the solar ray, or moonbeam wan.
TX
Sir Gavin threw him on the matted sward
Of gama, fern and creeping eglantine.
Nor posted sentry, to guard or ward
Whilst busy thought rold back to "lang syne'
And plastic mem'ry the grave and gay combine
The star bespangled canopy above
Pours the lonely wand'rer its light,
No token but the still small "whisperings of love
That softly wooes" the soul, to slumber through the
night.
But harkl amid the nights still, starry reign,
What sounds unearthly burst upon his ear
In long unbroken howlings DER the plain.
Chilling the soul and palzying all with fear;
When from their covert, bounds the startled deer
'Tis the gaunt wolf by famine sorely press'd
That whilon lingerd on the bison's trail,
Shutting the breeze, which from the distant west,
Arous'd each monster to his desert wall.
And DER the fowrv plain, the horrid chant
Prolonged from point to point, the dismal note,
Such sounds Bayards fearless soul would daunt
As DER the boundless space. its echongs float,
But fear, nor thought of fear Child Gavins bosom
Bounding like Roland, from his sumber sweet
His spirit sparkling in his warlike eyes,
And glancing right and left, each harm to meet,
He stands the warrior, and each savage foe defes.
XII
Calm and possessed as Ajax Teemon
While hurng from the feet the Trojan host.
In ftful CLEANS, his polish'd weapons shone,
Nor counted he the peril, nor the cost
But knew, to brave the foe or all was lost.
With steady arm his faithful derrnger
Is pointed to the leader of the band.
Unerring aim, with echo shrill and clear
That lays the foremost rolling on the desert sand
The grizzly monsters of the untrodden waste
Recoiled before his awe inspiring brow,
And iying from the hero in hot haste
Retreated in the darkness bowling low
Their disappointment, to their hills of snow,
But vet Child Gavin morning vigls made
Nor let soft slumber seal his leaden eye
Lest the returning foe in hellish raid,
Would rouse him by their deep unearthly cry.
XIV.
Not Habib, when he traversd Libya's sands
And grapppd fierce the strong constructors fold,
As this same wight from fam'd Missouri's land
When standing like Alcmenas of old,
And PROSTATE at his feet he Nimean lion bold,
And thus our hero, in La Mancha rant,
Ava nth hay n rest
'Tis mine, to drive you from your savage haunt
And open wide for ala passage to the west"
XIV
With glaring eyes and jaws begrm'd with blood
The famsh'd host were fain to stand at bay