 | English melodies |  |
297
DESPAIR.
I had a dream of many lands,
A voyage fleet and far,
Beyond the waste and desert sands—
The light of sun or star:
I saw a fearful shape arise,
The spirit of Despair;
His awful head gloom'd 'mid the skies,
And clouds his footstools were!
A voyage fleet and far,
Beyond the waste and desert sands—
The light of sun or star:
I saw a fearful shape arise,
The spirit of Despair;
His awful head gloom'd 'mid the skies,
And clouds his footstools were!
The scars and furrows myriad years
Had branded on his head,
Were channels old of human tears
That from all time were shed:
His shadowy hands, from east to west,
Obscur'd the troubled air;
And nations saw in dread their guest,
And, shrieking, breath'd Despair!
Had branded on his head,
Were channels old of human tears
That from all time were shed:
His shadowy hands, from east to west,
Obscur'd the troubled air;
And nations saw in dread their guest,
And, shrieking, breath'd Despair!
298
The billows backward rag'd and roar'd,
One spring the Tempest took,
And flash'd around his lightning-sword,
Whilst hills and forests shook:
And, Nature, to whose gentle breast
All human griefs repair,
Could find no home for the oppress'd—
No refuge 'gainst “Despair!”
One spring the Tempest took,
And flash'd around his lightning-sword,
Whilst hills and forests shook:
And, Nature, to whose gentle breast
All human griefs repair,
Could find no home for the oppress'd—
No refuge 'gainst “Despair!”
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