University of Virginia Library

When Western Clouds involv'd the God of Light,
And all the Eastern starry Orbs look'd bright;
When Sots their Tavern Bacchanals begun,
And Thetis at a draught drank up the Sun;
Whilst Luna with her Silver Horns drew near,
To bless the Night, and bear Dominion here.
'Twas then that I, my better self, my Soul
Broke loose, and thro' my Prison Casements stole,
And glad I'd shifted off my Earthly Chains,
Danc'd like a flaming Vapour round the Plains.
I then thro' Brakes and over Whirl-Pools flew,
Till tir'd with only superficial view;
Then into Holes and Crannies did I dive,
Where Badger, Fox, and sundry Vermine live;
Where Moles were labouring to enlarge their Homes
And buzzing Bees made Musick o'er their Combs.
Farther I darted thro' the porous Earth,
To seek that Womb whence Nature had her Birth,
But found the hidden Mistery far too great,
And for a Human Soul too intricate:
Causes with sundry Causes mix'd I found,
Each Matrix did with proper Seeds abound,
But why those Seeds their likeness shou'd produce,
Their Form preserve, be still the same in use,
My shallow Reason neither see or knew,
But found each Cause did the Decrees pursue,
Of some Eternal Pow'r beyond dim Reasons view.
Thro' deeper Caverns still I forc'd my way,
Where useless Dregs of the old Chaos lay,
Involv'd in Night, remote, and never seen by Day.
Where Plagues and Pestilential Fumes were pent,
Till Heav'ns Decree shou'd give 'em fatal vent:
Where greater Serpents do the less devour,
And Human-like, contend for Sov'reign Pow'r:
Where Streams thro' subteranean Channels run,
And fight with Winds far distant from the Sun;
Whose violent Shocks the World can scarce survive,
But trembles at the very strokes they give.
And where Heavens Judgments in subjection lay,
Ready the dreadful Trumpet to Obey,
And work the World's destruction at the last sad Day.
Thus thro' Nights deep Avenues did I pass,
Where all was rude as in the unform'd Mass.
Thro' Death's remoter frightful Vaults I went,
Where ghastly Sprights their Follies past lament,
And in dispairing Sighs such Discord make,
No Soul could hear, but of their Grief partake,
Dreading from thence their sad remove each Hour,
To endless Pains, where Time shall be no more.
So the poor Thief, when seiz'd for his Offence,
Finds his own Conscience Judge and Evidence.
And thus, before he to the Bar shall come,
Dreads with sad Terror his succeeding Doom.

I forward press'd, bemoaning of their Case,
Freed from my Earth, Death ask'd me for no Pass,
But boldly shot the Adamantine Gates
Without repulse, unquestion'd by the Fates,
Who busie sate, with Distaff, Reel, and Knife,
Spining and cutting Man's short Threads of Life.
O'er scorching Sands, where fiery Seeds lay hid,
I Travell'd, till the Avernuan Hills I spy'd,
High were their gloomy Heads, the trodden Path as wide.
I ventur'd forwards, till to Styx I came,
Which shone like humid Vapours in a flame;
Its poysonous Fumes so fatal and impure,
None but Immortal Spirits can endure.
I stood a while, and ponder'd by the Lake
Upon the frightful Voyage I had still to take.