Humanity, or the rights of nature, a poem in two books. By the author of sympathy [i.e. S. J. Pratt] |
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| I. |
| II. |
 | Humanity, or the rights of nature, a poem |  |
Ah! what avails thy medicinal floods,
Thy citron breezes, and thy palmy woods,
What tho' the Cassia breathes along thy shore,
And trickling manner adds its essenc'd store;
Tho' gums balsamic in thy vallies grow,
And both the India's in thy region glow,
Thine, tho' Olympus, dear from classic fame,
And honour'd Hermon, a more holy name;
Tho' the tall Cedar decks thy fragrant shrine,
And lofty Lebanon himself be thine,
From fair Euphrates ev'n to Jordan's wave,
Tho' thy rich Coast the hallow'd waters lave,
And tho' thy fruits, voluptuously, dispense
A keener relish to th'invited sense,
Tho' on thy flowers a bolder bloom prevail
And send more piercing odour to the gale,
And tho' thy skies, yet salient and serene,
Call fair Hygea to the tempting scene,
All, all these blessings a strong balance find
In one broad curse that seizes on thy kind;
Nor this the pest that oft has thinn'd thy plains,
A plague more fatal in thy Tyrant reigns.
Thy citron breezes, and thy palmy woods,
What tho' the Cassia breathes along thy shore,
And trickling manner adds its essenc'd store;
Tho' gums balsamic in thy vallies grow,
And both the India's in thy region glow,
Thine, tho' Olympus, dear from classic fame,
And honour'd Hermon, a more holy name;
Tho' the tall Cedar decks thy fragrant shrine,
And lofty Lebanon himself be thine,
From fair Euphrates ev'n to Jordan's wave,
Tho' thy rich Coast the hallow'd waters lave,
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A keener relish to th'invited sense,
Tho' on thy flowers a bolder bloom prevail
And send more piercing odour to the gale,
And tho' thy skies, yet salient and serene,
Call fair Hygea to the tempting scene,
All, all these blessings a strong balance find
In one broad curse that seizes on thy kind;
Nor this the pest that oft has thinn'd thy plains,
A plague more fatal in thy Tyrant reigns.
| Humanity, or the rights of nature, a poem | |