The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys Late Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America to the Court of Madrid |
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 | The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys |  |
60
Unwonted glooms the silent coasts surprize;
The heav'ns with sable clouds are overcast,
And death-like sounds ride on the hollow blast:
The rank grass rustling to the passing gale;
Ev'n now of men the cheerful voices fail:
No busy marts appear, no crowded ports,
No rural dances, and no splendid courts;
In halls, so late with feasts and music crown'd,
No revels sport, nor mirthful cymbals sound.
Fastidious pomp! how are thy pageants fled!
How sleep the haughty in their lowly bed!
Their cultur'd fields to desolation turn'd,
The buildings levell'd and th' enclosures burn'd.
Where the fair garden bloom'd, the thorn succeeds,
'Mid noxious brambles and envenom'd weeds.
O'er fallow plains no vagrant flocks are seen,
To print with tracks or crop the dewy green.
The Plague, where thousands felt his mortal stings,
In vacant air his shafts promiscuous flings;
There walks in darkness, thirsting still for gore,
And raves, unsated, round the desert shore—
The sandy waste, th' immeasurable heath,
Alone are prowl'd by animals of death.
Here tawny lions guard their gory den;
There birds of prey usurp the haunts of men;
Through dreary wilds a mournful echo calls,
From mould'ring tow'rs and desolated walls.
Where the wan light through broken windows gleams,
The fox looks out, the boding raven screams;
While trembling travellers in wild amaze,
On wrecks of state and piles of ruin gaze.
| The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys | |