 | [Poems by Dwight in] American poems, selected and original |  |
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2. PART II.
Daniel, Chap. II.
Thus rose the youths, by lords and kings approv'd,
By earth exalted, and by Heaven belov'd,
When, lost in slumbers as the sovereign lay,
What time fair Phosphor sings the approach of day,
Full to his eyes a vision rose sublime,
Big with dread mysteries of ascending time.
Alarm'd, awak'd, he left the thorny bed;
His sleep all vanish'd, and the vision fled:
In vain he tried the wonders to restore,
The fleeted phantom met his eyes no more.
By earth exalted, and by Heaven belov'd,
When, lost in slumbers as the sovereign lay,
What time fair Phosphor sings the approach of day,
Full to his eyes a vision rose sublime,
Big with dread mysteries of ascending time.
Alarm'd, awak'd, he left the thorny bed;
His sleep all vanish'd, and the vision fled:
In vain he tried the wonders to restore,
The fleeted phantom met his eyes no more.
Then deep convulsions shook his stormy mind,
That knew no crosses, and no wish resign'd.
At once he summon'd all the learn'd and wise,
Skill'd to explain, and artful to disguise,
Practis'd to bode, in words of soothing guile,
New feats, new triumphs, and new realms of spoil.
And thus the king—“Let every sage and feer,
Dreamer of dreams, and star-taught prophet hear!
This night, as sunk in sleep, your monarch lay,
When truth's clear dreams attend approaching day,
Before my eyes a solemn vision rose,
Clear, full, distinct, as morn's full splendor glows;
Fill'd with dread scenes, with acts of mighty name,
With change of empires, and with years of fame.
I wak'd—I rose—but all the events of night
Fled from my view, and took their final flight.
Then hear, ye sages; borne by skill sublime,
Thro' the dark ages of ascending time,
Explore the vision, make the wonders known;
And tell what changes wait the Assyrian throne.”
That knew no crosses, and no wish resign'd.
At once he summon'd all the learn'd and wise,
Skill'd to explain, and artful to disguise,
Practis'd to bode, in words of soothing guile,
New feats, new triumphs, and new realms of spoil.
And thus the king—“Let every sage and feer,
Dreamer of dreams, and star-taught prophet hear!
This night, as sunk in sleep, your monarch lay,
When truth's clear dreams attend approaching day,
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Clear, full, distinct, as morn's full splendor glows;
Fill'd with dread scenes, with acts of mighty name,
With change of empires, and with years of fame.
I wak'd—I rose—but all the events of night
Fled from my view, and took their final flight.
Then hear, ye sages; borne by skill sublime,
Thro' the dark ages of ascending time,
Explore the vision, make the wonders known;
And tell what changes wait the Assyrian throne.”
The Hero spoke. Around the spacious room
The strange command diffus'd a solemn gloom;
When thus a hoary sage—“O king divine,
Be endless life, and power, and honour thine!
Thy high behests our hearts delight to obey;
We own thy glory, and we bless thy sway.
But, O dread Prince, thy visions to reveal,
Transcends the efforts of terrestial skill.
Could'st thou, by memory's aid, the scenes restore,
Easy thy seers the mystery would explore;
Would teach, for thee what crowns of triumph bloom,
Or what new nations meet the general doom.
The Gods alone, to whose unbounded eye
Spread, in clear sight, all realms beneath the sky,
In obvious view the stars immensely roll,
Or on fleet pinions roves the wandering soul,
Can bid the eventful scenes of night return,
Or ope the vanish'd visions of the morn.
A new command, a labour yet undone,
Thy will enjoins us, and thy voice makes known,
Nor lord requir'd, nor prophet e'er divin'd,
The secret motions of the mazy mind.”
The strange command diffus'd a solemn gloom;
When thus a hoary sage—“O king divine,
Be endless life, and power, and honour thine!
Thy high behests our hearts delight to obey;
We own thy glory, and we bless thy sway.
But, O dread Prince, thy visions to reveal,
Transcends the efforts of terrestial skill.
Could'st thou, by memory's aid, the scenes restore,
Easy thy seers the mystery would explore;
Would teach, for thee what crowns of triumph bloom,
Or what new nations meet the general doom.
The Gods alone, to whose unbounded eye
Spread, in clear sight, all realms beneath the sky,
In obvious view the stars immensely roll,
Or on fleet pinions roves the wandering soul,
Can bid the eventful scenes of night return,
Or ope the vanish'd visions of the morn.
A new command, a labour yet undone,
Thy will enjoins us, and thy voice makes known,
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The secret motions of the mazy mind.”
The monarch heard. With sudden anger bright,
From his fierce eye-balls flash'd a withering light:
Sternly he cried,—“Base, impious wretches, hear
What wrath betides you, and what fate is near.
If, taught by heaven, your hearts the dream divine,
Wealth waits your steps, and crowns before you shine:
Prophets of truth, your race shall then be seen,
Lov'd by the Gods, and precious gifts to men.
But if this feat your purblind skill denies,
Each wretch, who soils the robe of wisdom, dies.
Mock'd by your boasts, my soul, no longer tame,
Shall rouse to sense, and bid just vengeance flame;
Each pamper'd carcase this right hand shall tear,
Glut the rob'd wolves, and feast the fowls of air.
Your hosts, your houses, give to flames a prey,
And sweep the nuisance from the world away.”
From his fierce eye-balls flash'd a withering light:
Sternly he cried,—“Base, impious wretches, hear
What wrath betides you, and what fate is near.
If, taught by heaven, your hearts the dream divine,
Wealth waits your steps, and crowns before you shine:
Prophets of truth, your race shall then be seen,
Lov'd by the Gods, and precious gifts to men.
But if this feat your purblind skill denies,
Each wretch, who soils the robe of wisdom, dies.
Mock'd by your boasts, my soul, no longer tame,
Shall rouse to sense, and bid just vengeance flame;
Each pamper'd carcase this right hand shall tear,
Glut the rob'd wolves, and feast the fowls of air.
Your hosts, your houses, give to flames a prey,
And sweep the nuisance from the world away.”
He spoke: the seers withdrew.—The realm around,
From voice to voice diffus'd the dismal sound.
From Arioch, Ashpenaz the tidings knew!
With thoughts all anxious to the youths he flew,
Rehears'd the tale—and “You, by worth betray'd,
Must soon,” he cried, “be number'd with the dead.”
“Fear not, O Prince,”—the elder youth reply'd:
“While heaven commands no ills the just betide.
Virtue refines, beneath affliction's power,
As gold runs beauteous from dissolving ore.
To light the dream shall rise, or, if the sky
Ordains our death, 'tis highest gain to die.
Unmov'd, our hearts, that thousand deaths have known
In Judah's woes, will meet the pangs of one;
From toil, and grief, and shame, unpinion'd rise,
And mix with angels in their native skies.
But haste, ah haste, and faithful Arioch bring,
E're he commence the vengeance of the king;
This night, shall Heaven the vanish'd scenes restore,
And save the prophets from vindictive power.”
From voice to voice diffus'd the dismal sound.
From Arioch, Ashpenaz the tidings knew!
With thoughts all anxious to the youths he flew,
Rehears'd the tale—and “You, by worth betray'd,
Must soon,” he cried, “be number'd with the dead.”
“Fear not, O Prince,”—the elder youth reply'd:
“While heaven commands no ills the just betide.
Virtue refines, beneath affliction's power,
As gold runs beauteous from dissolving ore.
To light the dream shall rise, or, if the sky
Ordains our death, 'tis highest gain to die.
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In Judah's woes, will meet the pangs of one;
From toil, and grief, and shame, unpinion'd rise,
And mix with angels in their native skies.
But haste, ah haste, and faithful Arioch bring,
E're he commence the vengeance of the king;
This night, shall Heaven the vanish'd scenes restore,
And save the prophets from vindictive power.”
The Prince to Arioch flew, and, bath'd in tears,
Rehears'd the tale of mingled hopes, and fears.
He came: And pleas'd to stay the monarch's rage,
Led to the throne the young, unbearded sage.
With mild regard, the softening sovereign view'd,
While worth, and beauty, half his wrath subdued,
Heard him, with modest mien, his hope propose,
That Heaven, ere morn, the vision would disclose,
And bade glad Arioch vengeance dire delay,
'Till the wish'd hour should ope the promis'd day.
Rehears'd the tale of mingled hopes, and fears.
He came: And pleas'd to stay the monarch's rage,
Led to the throne the young, unbearded sage.
With mild regard, the softening sovereign view'd,
While worth, and beauty, half his wrath subdued,
Heard him, with modest mien, his hope propose,
That Heaven, ere morn, the vision would disclose,
And bade glad Arioch vengeance dire delay,
'Till the wish'd hour should ope the promis'd day.
Those hours, the youths consum'd in fasts severe,
And the pure fervence of effectual prayer.
The God of worlds, to whom, with beam divine,
Fairer than morn the sons of Zion shine,
With love all bounteous bade the vision rise,
Dread, full, and clear, to Daniel's slumbering eyes.
And the pure fervence of effectual prayer.
The God of worlds, to whom, with beam divine,
Fairer than morn the sons of Zion shine,
With love all bounteous bade the vision rise,
Dread, full, and clear, to Daniel's slumbering eyes.
At earliest dawn, the youths, in bright array,
Toward the new palace bent their early way;
Through rows of lords, and rows of kings they pass'd,
While eyes of wonder thousands on them cast;
For round the court had spread the fearful doom,
That mark'd the guiltless Magi to the tomb.
Toward the new palace bent their early way;
Through rows of lords, and rows of kings they pass'd,
While eyes of wonder thousands on them cast;
For round the court had spread the fearful doom,
That mark'd the guiltless Magi to the tomb.
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Before the throne the beardless prophets stood;
Round their fair forms the grace of virtue glow'd;
Pleas'd, the great monarch view'd: With softer ray,
His eye-balls smil'd their fiercer flames away;
His settling visage lost its wrathful form,
As Spring looks fair behind a wintery storm.
Round their fair forms the grace of virtue glow'd;
Pleas'd, the great monarch view'd: With softer ray,
His eye-balls smil'd their fiercer flames away;
His settling visage lost its wrathful form,
As Spring looks fair behind a wintery storm.
“O King of kings?” the elder youth began—
“Thy dread request transcends the power of man.
In vain thy seers the vision would regain;
Like ours, their wishes, toils, and tears, are vain.
'Tis God alone the wonders can display,
The God, who form'd the heaven, the earth, and sea;
Naked, and clear, before whose searching eye,
The soul, the thoughts, and deep affections lie;
He brought the eventful vision to thy sight,
And he again commands it into light.
“Thy dread request transcends the power of man.
In vain thy seers the vision would regain;
Like ours, their wishes, toils, and tears, are vain.
'Tis God alone the wonders can display,
The God, who form'd the heaven, the earth, and sea;
Naked, and clear, before whose searching eye,
The soul, the thoughts, and deep affections lie;
He brought the eventful vision to thy sight,
And he again commands it into light.
“What time the dew of peace around thy bed
The silent slumbers of the morning spread,
Dread to thine eyes a wonderous image shone,
Awful in form, in splendor like the sun.
Its head of flaming gold, its arms and breast,
Of silver fair, inferior worth confess'd;
Its thighs and belly glow'd with brazen light;
Its legs, of iron, mark'd resistless might;
Its iron feet, commix'd with miry clay,
Display'd unsolid power, to time a prey.
When lo! spontaneous, from the mountains rent,
A stone came thundering down, with swift descent;
Full on the form, with mighty force it burst,
Crush'd all its limbs, and ground its frame to dust;
Borne by the winds, thou saw'st its ruins fly,
Like chaff, when whirlwinds sweep the summer sky.
And as a rising cloud, but just beheld,
Approaching, widens o'er the aerial field,
Expands, ascends, and, slow thro ether driven,
Sails thro the immense, and fills the bounds of heaven:
So the small cliff to rise, and swell, began,
Spread thro' the fields, the neighbouring groves o'er-ran,
O'er towns, o'er realms, o'er mountains, left the eye,
Uprose beyond the clouds, and heav'd the boundless sky.
The silent slumbers of the morning spread,
Dread to thine eyes a wonderous image shone,
Awful in form, in splendor like the sun.
Its head of flaming gold, its arms and breast,
Of silver fair, inferior worth confess'd;
Its thighs and belly glow'd with brazen light;
Its legs, of iron, mark'd resistless might;
Its iron feet, commix'd with miry clay,
Display'd unsolid power, to time a prey.
When lo! spontaneous, from the mountains rent,
A stone came thundering down, with swift descent;
Full on the form, with mighty force it burst,
Crush'd all its limbs, and ground its frame to dust;
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Like chaff, when whirlwinds sweep the summer sky.
And as a rising cloud, but just beheld,
Approaching, widens o'er the aerial field,
Expands, ascends, and, slow thro ether driven,
Sails thro the immense, and fills the bounds of heaven:
So the small cliff to rise, and swell, began,
Spread thro' the fields, the neighbouring groves o'er-ran,
O'er towns, o'er realms, o'er mountains, left the eye,
Uprose beyond the clouds, and heav'd the boundless sky.
“'Tis thus, O king! the Lord of Heaven declares,
What scenes roll onward with the tide of years.
By us, his sovereign voice to thee makes known,
And tells what changes wait the Assyrian throne.
What scenes roll onward with the tide of years.
By us, his sovereign voice to thee makes known,
And tells what changes wait the Assyrian throne.
“Thou art this head of gold: Thy power sublime,
Rules thousand kings, and spreads thro every clime.
But soon thy glory hastens to decay,
Soon the bright arms commence a humbler sway:
That too shall fail; the brazen kingdom rise,
Like ocean, spreading to surrounding skies.
As iron then an empire strong shall spring,
Subdue each realm, and vanquish every king:
Beneath its wonderous power, all nature yeilds,
Europe's lone wilds, and Asia's cultur'd fields.
Hence various kings, to art, and force, a prey,
As iron potent, yet dissolv'd like clay:
Unsound, unsolid, shall their empire rise,
Varying, as clouds their changes in the skies.
In those far distant days, o'er every land,
Shall God's dread sceptre rear its high command:
Before its power, resisting powers decay;
Nations, and kings, and empires, melt away;
Through unknown wilds the vast dominion roll,
Extend its conquering force from pole to pole;
From morn's far regions reach the shores of even,
Fill earth, and time, and rear its pomp to heaven.
Thus, King of kings! the heavens thy dream restore,
And teach the changes of terrestial power.”
Rules thousand kings, and spreads thro every clime.
But soon thy glory hastens to decay,
Soon the bright arms commence a humbler sway:
That too shall fail; the brazen kingdom rise,
Like ocean, spreading to surrounding skies.
As iron then an empire strong shall spring,
Subdue each realm, and vanquish every king:
Beneath its wonderous power, all nature yeilds,
Europe's lone wilds, and Asia's cultur'd fields.
Hence various kings, to art, and force, a prey,
As iron potent, yet dissolv'd like clay:
Unsound, unsolid, shall their empire rise,
Varying, as clouds their changes in the skies.
In those far distant days, o'er every land,
Shall God's dread sceptre rear its high command:
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Nations, and kings, and empires, melt away;
Through unknown wilds the vast dominion roll,
Extend its conquering force from pole to pole;
From morn's far regions reach the shores of even,
Fill earth, and time, and rear its pomp to heaven.
Thus, King of kings! the heavens thy dream restore,
And teach the changes of terrestial power.”
The monarch heard, and look'd, when heavenly flame,
Round the fair youths should cast a golden beam;
Or o'er their limbs instinctive lightnings run;
Or rainbow'd pinions lift them to the sun.
Prostrate to earth he fell: and,—“Oh!” he cries,
“Your God is Lord of gods, and worlds, and skies:
He, only he, could make these visions known;
Let praise, and glory, wait his heavenly throne.”
Round the fair youths should cast a golden beam;
Or o'er their limbs instinctive lightnings run;
Or rainbow'd pinions lift them to the sun.
Prostrate to earth he fell: and,—“Oh!” he cries,
“Your God is Lord of gods, and worlds, and skies:
He, only he, could make these visions known;
Let praise, and glory, wait his heavenly throne.”
To Daniel, then the raptur'd hero bade
Incense be fir'd, and rich oblations paid;
O'er his prime lords his favourite place ordain'd,
A prince to every king, and every land:
While, high o'er Babel's realm, his partners sate
In kingly favour, and judicial state.
Incense be fir'd, and rich oblations paid;
O'er his prime lords his favourite place ordain'd,
A prince to every king, and every land:
While, high o'er Babel's realm, his partners sate
In kingly favour, and judicial state.
Where'er they pass'd, pursuing wonder came;
The Magi bless'd, the children lisp'd their name;
To them were Judah's prayers and blessings given,
And the poor mark'd them as the sons of Heaven.
The Magi bless'd, the children lisp'd their name;
To them were Judah's prayers and blessings given,
And the poor mark'd them as the sons of Heaven.
| [Poems by Dwight in] American poems, selected and original | |