University of Virginia Library

Hail, lovely griefs, in tender mercy giv'n,
And hail, ye tears, like dew-drops fresh from heav'n;
Hail, balmy breath of unaffected sighs,
More sweet than airs that breathe from eastern skies;
Hail, sacred source of sympathy divine,
Each social pulse, each social fibre thine;
Hail, symbols of the God, to whom we owe
The nerves that vibrate, and the hearts that glow;

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Love's tender tumult, friendship's holy fires,
And all which beauty, all which worth inspires,
The joy that lights the hope illumin'd eye,
The bliss supreme that melts in pity's sigh,
Affection's bloom quick rushing to the face,
The choice acknowledg'd and the warm embrace:
Oh power of powers, whose magic thus can draw,
Earth, air, and ocean, by one central law;
Join bird to bird, to insect insect link,
From those which grovel up to those which think;
Oh, ever blest! whose bounties opening wide
Fill the vast globe, for mortals to divide,
Thy heav'nly favours stretch from pole to pole,
Encircle earth, and rivet soul to soul!