 | Prometheus delivered |  |
PROMETHEUS DELIVERED.
‘Come, Outcast of the human race,
‘Prometheus, hail thy destined place!
‘This rock protects the dark retreat,
‘Unvisited by earthly feet;
‘We only shall thy mansion share,
‘Who haunt the chamber of despair!
‘The vulture, here, thy loathed mate—
‘Rapacious minister of fate!
‘Compels life's ruddy stream to part
‘With keenest torture from thy heart.
‘Yet not to perish art thou doomed,
‘Victim unspared, but unconsumed;
‘Death shall not sap thy wall of clay,
‘That penal being mocks decay;
‘Live, conscious inmate of the grave,
‘Live, outcast, captive, victim, slave!’
‘Prometheus, hail thy destined place!
‘This rock protects the dark retreat,
‘Unvisited by earthly feet;
‘We only shall thy mansion share,
‘Who haunt the chamber of despair!
‘The vulture, here, thy loathed mate—
‘Rapacious minister of fate!
‘Compels life's ruddy stream to part
‘With keenest torture from thy heart.
‘Yet not to perish art thou doomed,
‘Victim unspared, but unconsumed;
‘Death shall not sap thy wall of clay,
‘That penal being mocks decay;
‘Live, conscious inmate of the grave,
‘Live, outcast, captive, victim, slave!’
The Furies ceased; the wrathful strain
Prometheus hears, and, pierced with pain,
Rolls far around his hopeless gaze,
His realm of wretchedness surveys;
Then maddening with convulsive breath,
He moans or raves, imploring death.
Thus hours on hours unnumbered past,
And each more lingering than the last;
When lo! before his glazed sight,
Appears a form, in dauntless might.
'Tis he! Alcides, lord of fame!
The friend of man, his noblest name!
Swift from his bow the arrow flies,
And prone the bleeding vulture lies.
He smites the rock, he rends the chain,
Prometheus rises man again!
Prometheus hears, and, pierced with pain,
Rolls far around his hopeless gaze,
His realm of wretchedness surveys;
Then maddening with convulsive breath,
He moans or raves, imploring death.
And each more lingering than the last;
When lo! before his glazed sight,
Appears a form, in dauntless might.
'Tis he! Alcides, lord of fame!
The friend of man, his noblest name!
Swift from his bow the arrow flies,
And prone the bleeding vulture lies.
He smites the rock, he rends the chain,
Prometheus rises man again!
Such, Africa, thy suffering state!
Outcast of nations, such thy fate!
The ruthless rock, the den of pain,
Were thine—oh long deplored in vain,
Whilst Britain's virtue slept! at length
She rose in majesty and strength;
And when thy martyr'd limbs she viewed,
Thy wounds unhealed, and still renewed,
She wept; but soon with graceful pride,
The vulture, Avarice, she defied,
And wrenched him from thy reeking side;
In Britain's name then called thee forth,
Sad exile, to the social hearth,
From baleful Error's realm of night,
To Freedom's breath and Reason's light.
Outcast of nations, such thy fate!
The ruthless rock, the den of pain,
Were thine—oh long deplored in vain,
Whilst Britain's virtue slept! at length
She rose in majesty and strength;
And when thy martyr'd limbs she viewed,
Thy wounds unhealed, and still renewed,
She wept; but soon with graceful pride,
The vulture, Avarice, she defied,
And wrenched him from thy reeking side;
In Britain's name then called thee forth,
Sad exile, to the social hearth,
From baleful Error's realm of night,
To Freedom's breath and Reason's light.
| Prometheus delivered | |