They took the rose-wreath d lyres From eunuch and from slave, And taught the languid wires The sounds that Freedom gave. But now the morning star Crown'd Eta's twilight brow; And the Persian horn of war From the hills began to blow. Up rose the glorious rank, To Greece one cup pour'd high,Then hand in hand, they drank * To Immortality!" Fear on King Xerxes fell, When, like spirits from the tomb, With shout and trumpet-knell, He saw the warriors come. But down swept all his power, With chariot and with charge; Down pour’d the arrowy shower, Till sank the Dorian's targe. They gather'd round the tent, With all their strength unstrung; To Greece one look they sent, Then on high their torches flung. Their King sat on the throne, His captains by his side, While the flame rush'd roaring on, And their Pæan loud replied ! Thus fought the Greek of old ! Thus will he fight again! Shall not the self-same mould Bring forth the self-same men? THE STARS. Ye stars! bright legions that, before all time, With its own weight of thought, and the wild eye For ye behold the Mightiest. From that steep of Adam fix`d from Paradise; The wanderers of the Deluge saw it spring Above the mountain surge, and hail'd its rise Lighting their lonely track with Hope's celestial dyes. On Calvary shot down that purple eye, burn: For all your pomps are dust, and shall to dust return. Yet look ye living intellects.—The trine The sign when empire's hour-glass downwards ran, 'Twas on that arch, graved on that brazen talisman. From Paris in 1815, Part II. EXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI. The Guillotine.—It stood in that pale day A banner tossing in the tempest's sway, 'Tis done, the monarch on the scaffold stands; The saint unmurmuring to the axe is driven. From Paris in 1815. THINGS TO COME. There are murmurs on the deep, There are thunders on the heaven; Though the ocean billows sleep, Though no cloud the sign has given; Earth that sudden storm shall feel, 'Tis a storm of man and steel. Tribes are in their forests now, Idly hunting ounce and deer; O'er their wild and wintry cheer, Guilt has shaken strength and pride; But the thunders, feebly hurld, Quiver'd o'er the spot, and died; Love and hatred, fame and gold; Earth in cureless crime grows old; Past destruction shall be tame To the rushing of that flame. When the clouds of Vengeance break, Folly shall be on the wise, Nation against nation rise, That a thousand years has rung, Round the Golden Altar' flung, Shall be heard,—and from the 'throne' The trumpet of the Judgment' blown. “Woe to Earth, the mighty, woe!” Yet shall Earth her conscience lull, Till above the brim shall flow The draught of gall.—The cup is full. Yet a moment!-Comes the ire,- First shall fall a Mighty one! Ancient crime had crown'd his brow, Truth his victim and his foe. Sweeping Heathen zone by zone; Shivering India's pagod throne; From the Grecian's dagger'd hand! Till he treads the Syrian land! THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. The air is fill’d with shouts, and trumpets' sounding; And to the cloudless heaven Hosannas ring “ The Son of David comes !—the Conqueror—the King!" The cuirass’d Roman heard; and grasp'd his shield, And rush'd in fiery haste to gate and tower; The Pontiff from his battlement beheld The host, and knew the falling of his power: He saw the cloud on Sion's glory lour. Still down the marble road the myriads come, Spreading the way with garment, branch, and flower, And deeper sounds are mingling, “ Woe to Rome! “ The day of freedom dawns; rise, Israel, froin thy tomb!" |