ON Kilda’s rock a man of pensive mien,
Sat thoughtful, gazing on the restless deep,
And as he mark’d with what a rapid sweep,
Wave after wave rush’d onward to the shore;
He thought of life’s for ever changing scene,
How just a picture of the sons of men,
Race after race they sink to rise no more.
For him alas! more mournful musings wait;
Ah! wretch unhappy, destin’d to forsee,
What sad, sad scenes in future times should be
What long protracted years of human woe,
The dreadful secrets of the womb of fate,
Of suffering Europe the unhappy state,
Doom’d war’s gigantic ills, a cruel train, to know.
For while he gaz’d before his wond’ring eyes;
Her hundred states majestic rose to view,
In ev’ry varying feature nicely true,
All strongly pictur’d by an unseen hand.
There, snow-crown’d mountains towering to the skies,
Here, vine-clad hills with gentler swells arise;
There, flowery plains were spread, a green delightful land.
Plac’d in the midst, on ocean’s billowy plain
Sublimely stood fair Albion’s favour’d land;
Her rocks, strong fortresses by nature plann’d,
Built round her shores in many a rugged pile;
Her sons, a brave intrepid gen’rous train,
Freedom their boast, the rulers of the main,
Her navies ” hearts of oak” the guardians of the isle.
The wond’ring peasant saw with deep surprise,
The lovely vision glide before his view;
Soon scenes more strange his fix’d attention drew,
For in the midst a dreadful phantom rose,
Of form terrific and gigantic size,
The darts of death shot from his fiery eyes,
Thick rolling clouds of smoke enveloped his brows.
O’er many a land his glitt’ring lance he shook,
Shrieks of despair were echoed far and wide;
Dismay’d and terror-struck on ev’ry side,
The guardian Genii of the nations fled.
With frown tremendous and appalling look,
And voice of thunder, thus the phantom spoke,
In tones whose echo fill’d th’ astonish’d world with dread.
” Spirit of desolation hither come,
From realms, of pow’rful empires once the seat,
Of arts and sciences the fam’d retreat,
Now provinces beneath a tyrant’s sway;
‘Mid scenes like these if now thou lov’st to roam
To feed thy sullen souls perpetual gloom,
Contemplating the works of human skill decay.
” Or if those desart wastes thou hover’st round,
Where trace, nor vestige e’er can be descry’d
Of mighty Babylon Challdea’s pride,
Its scite to passing travellers to tell-
Where Balbec’s fallen temples strew the ground,
A sandy plain with broken columns crown’d,
Beneath whose spacious arch the wand’ring Arabs dwell.
” Or scenes of fallen grandeur feast thine eyes,
Where in its vast magnificence appears,
The splendid ruin of two thousand years,
The matchless boast of Persia’s flow’ry plains,
Persepolis, whose lofty columns rise,
Stupendous work of art, which time defies,
Which Asia’s glory once, its wonder yet remains.
” Spirit of desolation, haste away
From these vast monuments of ancient times,
The mutilated pride of Eastern climes;
Nor the lost plund’rers of the earth deplore,
Who gave these mighty wonders to thy sway
My modern son shall ruthless be as they,
And ruin mark his course from shore to shore.
” Ne’er shall humanity his hand arrest;
Stern shall he be, of unrelenting soul,
Nor ever tender pity’s soft controul,
Restrain the dreadful purpose of his heart,
But in his hard inexorable breast,
Each fierce and furious passion be a guest;
By nature form’d to act th’ unfeeling tyrant’s part.
” Dark spirit follow where we lead the way,
Europe’s fair realms we’ll sacrifice to thee,
With gloomy joy thy sullen eyes shall see,
New empires added to thy wide domains;
Devouring flames her harvest’s shall consume;
Her burning cities night’s dark vault illume,
And thou exulting stalk o’er her devoted plains.”
He came to trace the sanguine steps of war-
Swift as the sweeping whirlwind on its way,
Through realms, where mighty Princes once bore sway,
The demon rush’d, and frequent turn’d his eye
On Albion’s cliffs, but bent his course afar,
Where Russia stretch’d towards the Polar star;
And saw Imperial Moscow’s towers in ruins lie.
The fiend exulting hover’d o’er his prey,
A gen’ral groan through every land was heard;
The vision clos’d, the pageant dissappear’d,
Surprise and horror seal’d the seer’s sad eyes,
Yet thus he spoke, ” Oh power mysterious say,
Shall Europe then in her distressful day
Ne’er find a friend, shall none to save her rise?
Say? is there no unconquerable power,
Who dares oppose ambition’s mad career,
Dares from his grasp the reins of empire tear,
And save mankind from his detested sway;
Where sleeps that spirit fam’d in days of yore,
Guardian of freedom since her natal hour,
Where sleeps he, and the world to lawless power a prey?”
(Isabella Lickbarrow)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Life Poems, World Poems, Sadness Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Soul Poems, War & Peace Poems, Friendship Poems, Art Poems, Fate & Destiny Poems, Sons PoemsBased on Keywords: sciences, distressful, fortresses, persepolis, terror-struck, balbec, kilda, forsee, plund, scite, snow-crown