 | The works, in verse and prose, of the late Robert Treat Paine, Jun. Esq |  |
[Vice lives coeval with the age of time]
Vice lives coeval with the age of time,
A Syren form, enchantress half divine.
Before yon sun, in youthful splendour clad,
Illumed with sportive beams the new-born earth;
Before the planets round their reverend sire
Through Heaven's wide plains performed their mystick dance;
Even then among the sapphire thrones of God,
Skilled in Egyptian herbs and magick lore,
The nymph bewitching came; her tuneful voice,
Sweet warbling, drew the thronging seraphs round;
And while they seemed delighted with the song,
The artful traitress, with Circassian smile,
Gave the full bowl of poison to their lips;
They quaffed; and soon perceived its magick power
Invade, inveigle, and subdue their souls.
A Syren form, enchantress half divine.
Before yon sun, in youthful splendour clad,
Illumed with sportive beams the new-born earth;
Before the planets round their reverend sire
Through Heaven's wide plains performed their mystick dance;
Even then among the sapphire thrones of God,
Skilled in Egyptian herbs and magick lore,
32
Sweet warbling, drew the thronging seraphs round;
And while they seemed delighted with the song,
The artful traitress, with Circassian smile,
Gave the full bowl of poison to their lips;
They quaffed; and soon perceived its magick power
Invade, inveigle, and subdue their souls.
Thus by her perfidy betrayed, they fell
Down the dark dungeon of Almighty wrath,
Where flames sulphureous flash a livid glare,
And ravenous vultures on their vitals prey,
Which undiminished grow, nor aught consume;
Thus an eternity of years to groan,
Cursing in penal fire the treacherous wretch,
Who led their daring spirits to rebel.
Down the dark dungeon of Almighty wrath,
Where flames sulphureous flash a livid glare,
And ravenous vultures on their vitals prey,
Which undiminished grow, nor aught consume;
Thus an eternity of years to groan,
Cursing in penal fire the treacherous wretch,
Who led their daring spirits to rebel.
When thus her power innumerous saints subdued,
To earth she came, and in the breast of man
Instilling poison sweet, and lawless wish
To rob the central tree of Paradise,
Drove him, an exile from the realms of joy.
O'er earth's wide plains, inhospitable wilds,
Where crags menace defiance to the sky;
Through forests, deepened with Carpathian gloom,
Where midnight deaths in secret ambush lie;
O'er scenes like these, with Providence his guide,
He roamed unfriended, hopeless and forlorn;
In contemplation sad of follies past;
Lamenting oft, in bitterness of soul,
The fatal taste of the forbidden tree.
Without the embellishments and aid of art,
The earth exhibited a dreary waste.
No lofty cities, then, with glittering spires
And massy walls of mountain rocks composed,
Reared their tall turrets, and with Atlas vied,
Who should sustain the starry vault of heaven.
No rural hamlet, then, with peaceful shades,
And groves in verdure of perennial bloom,
Oft kissed with rapture by the sportive gale,
Courted the wretched traveller's weary feet
To the sweet blessings of a frugal board.
'Twas his to wander mid tenebrious wilds,
Where deeply grave, majestick Horror reigns;
Where savage beasts so fiercely yell and roar,
That Sol, affrighted at the dismal sound,
Ne'er dared to dart within the dreary scene
A single ray to dissipate the shade.
Such were the horrors of his vagrant path,
And such the woes, which disobedience brought;
Through all his race the dire contagion ran;
Disease and want and treachery filled the earth.
To earth she came, and in the breast of man
Instilling poison sweet, and lawless wish
To rob the central tree of Paradise,
Drove him, an exile from the realms of joy.
O'er earth's wide plains, inhospitable wilds,
Where crags menace defiance to the sky;
Through forests, deepened with Carpathian gloom,
Where midnight deaths in secret ambush lie;
O'er scenes like these, with Providence his guide,
He roamed unfriended, hopeless and forlorn;
In contemplation sad of follies past;
Lamenting oft, in bitterness of soul,
The fatal taste of the forbidden tree.
Without the embellishments and aid of art,
33
No lofty cities, then, with glittering spires
And massy walls of mountain rocks composed,
Reared their tall turrets, and with Atlas vied,
Who should sustain the starry vault of heaven.
No rural hamlet, then, with peaceful shades,
And groves in verdure of perennial bloom,
Oft kissed with rapture by the sportive gale,
Courted the wretched traveller's weary feet
To the sweet blessings of a frugal board.
'Twas his to wander mid tenebrious wilds,
Where deeply grave, majestick Horror reigns;
Where savage beasts so fiercely yell and roar,
That Sol, affrighted at the dismal sound,
Ne'er dared to dart within the dreary scene
A single ray to dissipate the shade.
Such were the horrors of his vagrant path,
And such the woes, which disobedience brought;
Through all his race the dire contagion ran;
Disease and want and treachery filled the earth.
What rending grief must wound our parent's breast,
When erst from Paradise his feet were driven;
What heart-felt torture must his bosom sting,
Then to reflect, that, for his fault alone,
Ages of ages of his sons unborn
Should suffer all the pangs of guilt and woe,
Hear the dire curse, which his own follies wrought,
And feel the lash of wrath, which he provoked.
When erst from Paradise his feet were driven;
What heart-felt torture must his bosom sting,
Then to reflect, that, for his fault alone,
Ages of ages of his sons unborn
Should suffer all the pangs of guilt and woe,
Hear the dire curse, which his own follies wrought,
And feel the lash of wrath, which he provoked.
Perhaps, elate on Fancy's darling wing,
(For she with wretched mourners is a guest)
He oft beheld on life's tempestuous tide,
His offspring struggling with the adverse surge,
Wrecked on adversity's Charybdian coast;
Now borne aloft upon the swelling surge,
Now plunging headlong down the dark abyss,
Where boiling quicksands rave with madding foam,
And pour through parting waves their oozy surf;
Where sea-green caves, like sepulchres appear,
To catch the spirit, fainting with fatigue.
While raging seas in mad rebellion rise,
And rocks and winds and bellowing oceans war;
While daring surges lift their heads to heaven,
Loud thunders, bursting with tremendous roar,
Roll through the quaking sky their muttering wrath;
The hapless strugglers on the briny deep,
Each effort vain, and whelmed in dark despair,
Their eyes erect to heaven with languid look,
Upbraid the parent, author of their woes,
And, cursing Adam, sink to rise no more.
Such were perhaps the scenes, our common sire
With self-accusing fancy sadly drew;
And with the bitterest grief, that mortals feel,
Bemoaned the deed irrevocably cursed.
(For she with wretched mourners is a guest)
34
His offspring struggling with the adverse surge,
Wrecked on adversity's Charybdian coast;
Now borne aloft upon the swelling surge,
Now plunging headlong down the dark abyss,
Where boiling quicksands rave with madding foam,
And pour through parting waves their oozy surf;
Where sea-green caves, like sepulchres appear,
To catch the spirit, fainting with fatigue.
While raging seas in mad rebellion rise,
And rocks and winds and bellowing oceans war;
While daring surges lift their heads to heaven,
Loud thunders, bursting with tremendous roar,
Roll through the quaking sky their muttering wrath;
The hapless strugglers on the briny deep,
Each effort vain, and whelmed in dark despair,
Their eyes erect to heaven with languid look,
Upbraid the parent, author of their woes,
And, cursing Adam, sink to rise no more.
Such were perhaps the scenes, our common sire
With self-accusing fancy sadly drew;
And with the bitterest grief, that mortals feel,
Bemoaned the deed irrevocably cursed.
Cease, tender parent, thy invective plaint;
No more thy breast with lamentations wound;
Oh, wipe the dark suspicion from thy soul,
That e'er thy race could with ungenerous voice
Pronounce a curse upon thy reverend head!
Sooner shall Winter in his frigid arms
Embrace the blooming Spring, the type of heaven;
Sooner the turtle, when the parent dove
Has built her nest in insalubrious spot,
Oft ravaged by the fierce rapacious foe,
Forget the author of its tender life,
And cease to coo the harmless notes of love.
No more thy breast with lamentations wound;
Oh, wipe the dark suspicion from thy soul,
That e'er thy race could with ungenerous voice
Pronounce a curse upon thy reverend head!
Sooner shall Winter in his frigid arms
Embrace the blooming Spring, the type of heaven;
Sooner the turtle, when the parent dove
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Oft ravaged by the fierce rapacious foe,
Forget the author of its tender life,
And cease to coo the harmless notes of love.
Long as the blue-waved seas, in lucid lapse,
Shall roll majestick through the caverned earth;
Long as the year shall blossom with the spring,
With summer ripen, and with autumn yield;
Long as the sun, the powerful king of day,
Shall ride triumphant in his car of light;
Till Nature's self shall droop with hoary age,
And sleep, low mouldering, in her silent tomb,
Formed of the mighty wrecks of falling worlds;
Till then thy name shall pervagrate the earth,
Herald of Love, and monitor of Heaven.
Shall roll majestick through the caverned earth;
Long as the year shall blossom with the spring,
With summer ripen, and with autumn yield;
Long as the sun, the powerful king of day,
Shall ride triumphant in his car of light;
Till Nature's self shall droop with hoary age,
And sleep, low mouldering, in her silent tomb,
Formed of the mighty wrecks of falling worlds;
Till then thy name shall pervagrate the earth,
Herald of Love, and monitor of Heaven.
| The works, in verse and prose, of the late Robert Treat Paine, Jun. Esq | |