Ah no! the great RETRIBUTORY MIND'
Will recompense, and may perhaps ordain
Some future mode of being, more refined
Than ours, less sullied with inherent stain;
Less torn by passion, and less prone to sin;
Their duty easier, trial less severe,
Till their firm faith, and virtue prov'd, may win
The wreaths of Life in yon ETERNAL SPHERE.
This then may form the much-rewarding doom :-
But O! whate'er the nature of the meed,
Theirs it must be ;-and let us now presume
Their guiltless cause, on other grounds, to plead.
Suppose permitted ills did not oppress,
That certain as their innocence, their peace,
And thus, that with the being they possess,
Sensation might, without injustice, cease;
Yet still, proud Man, in this scorn'd Tribe below,
Shall more than innocence thy pride impede,
Nature, where all the generous ardors glow,
And action, vieing with thy noblest deed.
If strength, if grace, if magnitude of frame
To give the dignifying powers must fail;
If not from them proceeds the sacred claim
That lifts the Creature on Creation's scale;
If mind shall ever be to form preferr'd,
Courage to force, to beauty sentiment,
One Brute, at least, has powers, by HEAVEN Conferr'd,
That for a doom oblivious were not lent.
Ah! what but Heaven-born sentiment, corrects,
Refines, adorns, ennobles Being? still
From the contagious taint of Vice protects,
Controuls the appetites, exalts the will?
This should'st thou feel, perforce then shalt thou see
That animal-perfection must depend,
Human, and Brute alike, on the degree
In which the lights of sentiment extend.
In brutal life if exquisite they prove;
If education may increase their force;
If fond, intelligent, and faithful love
Rise in the breast, and strengthen on its course;
If, in a silent servitude to Man,
Energic Friendship burns, with generous strife,
Say, canst thou deem thy Doc's short, vital span
Stopt on the confines of ETERNAL LIFE?
His natural temper, fervent, choleric, fierce,
Nay bloody, see, by sentiment subdu'd;
Subdu'd, for thee, to every soft reverse,
For thee, in all its native rage renew'd!
When unattach'd, and yet to Man unknown,
Wolfish and wild, the wilderness he roves;
Bays with his horrid howl the silent moon,
And stalks the terror of the desert groves.
Yet mark this heart, of savage enterprise,
Moulded by thee to all that's kind and sweet;
See him approach, with mild imploring eyes,
And lay his strength, and courage at thy feet!
Charm'd to exchange them for the soft delights
Of growing love, his duteous head he lays
Light on thy knee;-his lifted eye invites
The wish'd command, which instant he obeys.
At that known voice, with ardor, up he springs,
And in the joy of usefulness elate,
With gladden'd haste, th' endear'd commission brings;
Or drives intruding Vagrants from thy gate.
Thy wealth, thy person, anxious to protect,
And gentle only to thy frequent Friends,
Nor bribe, nor flattery gain his coy respect,
Useless the flattery, and the bribe offends.
When night broods sullen o'er the drowsy earth,
Tho' faint with mid-day toil, he scorns repose,
Leaves the warm comforts of the ember'd hearth,
To guard thy slumbers, and appal thy Foes:
Watchful, and listening, walks his silent rounds,
Scenting the lurking Stranger from afar.
Ha!-does he pass the interdicted bounds?
The loud, indignant bark proclaims the war.
Or Beast, or Man, is he to spoil devote?
With fangs terrific, and with burning eyes,
Thy brave Protector rushes on his throat,
And low in blood the dark Destroyer lies.
But yet, if fear resign what theft supplied,
He, pitying, from the prostrate Foe recoils.
Mark then the Victor, great in honest pride,
Content with conquest, rest upon his spoils!
Tho' high in health, the pleas of hunger strong,
In tempting opportunity, arise,
Generously proud he scorns his trust to wrong,
And all untouch'd the prey he rescued, lies!
Vainly while night and secrecy accord,
This sacred sense of honor to controul,
Do human records fairer proof afford
Of all that elevates a thinking soul?
Exempt the nuptial, and the filial ties,
Hast thou one Friend, amongst thy reasoning Kind,
On whom thy secret heart for truth relies,
Thus ardent, noble, constant, and refin'd?
To selfish passions thus superior found,
Whom neither interest sways, nor arts beguile?
To thee, in faith and trust unfaltering bound,
Thy will his law, his happiness thy smile.
Ah Wretch ingrate, to liberal hope unknown!
Does pride incrust thee in so dark a leaven,
To deem this Spirit, purer than thine own,
Sinks, while thou soarest to the light of Heaven?
What, tho' when Reason all her power displays,
Drawn from Philosophy's most copious source,
Too subtle proves Creation's endless maze
For her best skill, too mighty for her force;
Or when she tries the mystery to explain
Of the tremendous EXPIATORY PLAN,
Shows, only shows, how arrogant, how vain
Such needless, daring scrutiny in Man;
Yet, while ALMIGHTY WISDOM thus appears
To human Powers inscrutably sublime,
Her gracious form ALMIGHTY JUSTICE rears
Unveil'd, unchanging, thro' the rounds of Time.
Hear, from the centre of th' ETERNAL THRONE,
Her aweful voice the fix'd award disclose,
"If evils over guiltless Life are strown,
"The GOD, who gave that Life, will recompense its 66 woes."
CYPRESS dark, my garland long,
The hateful emblem of despair,
Now, while I raise the blissful song,
My hands thy sullen foliage tear!
Twine the rose, the myrtle twine!
For these may now my brows adorn,
Since ne'er again shall I repine,
The victim of neglect, or scorn!
Love! no more my tongue reviles
Thy power that prompted many a sigh:
On me the sweet Ianthe smiles;
She smiles, and all my sorrows die.
R. A. DAVENPORT
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