my God so lost, that He,?In His large view should pass me by.
Thus blest with children, friend, and wife,?Blest far beyond the vulgar lot;?Of all that gladdens human life,?Where was the good that I had not??But my vile heart had sinful spot,?And Heaven beheld its deep'ning stain;?Eternal justice I forgot,?And mercy sought not to obtain.
Come near,--I'll softly speak the rest! -?Alas! 'tis known to all the crowd,?Her guilty love was all confess'd;?And his, who so much truth avow'd,?My faithless friend's.--In pleasure proud?I sat, when these cursed tidings came;?Their guilt, their flight was told aloud,?And Envy smiled to hear my shame!
I call'd on Vengeance; at the word?She came: --Can I the deed forget??I held the sword--the accursed sword?The blood of his false heart made wet;?And that fair victim paid her debt,?She pined, she died, she loath'd to live; -?I saw her dying--see her yet:?Fair fallen thing! my rage forgive!
Those cherubs still, my life to bless,?Were left; could I my fears remove,?Sad fears that check'd each fond caress,?And poison'd all parental love??Yet that with jealous feelings strove,?And would at last have won my will,?Had I not, wretch! been doom'd to prove?Th' extremes of mortal good and ill.
In youth! health! joy! in beauty's pride!?They droop'd--as flowers when blighted bow;?The dire infection came: --they died,?And I was cursed--as I am now; -?Nay, frown not, angry friend,--allow?That I was deeply, sorely tried;?Hear then, and you must wonder how?I could such storms and strifes abide.
Storms!--not that clouds embattled make,?When they afflict this earthly globe;?But such as with their terrors shake?Man's breast, and to the bottom probe;?They make the hypocrite disrobe,?They try us all, if false or true;?For this one Devil had power on Job;?And I was long the slave of two.
PHYSICIAN.
Peace, peace, my friend; these subjects fly;?Collect thy thoughts--go calmly on. -
PATIENT.
And shall I then the fact deny??I was--thou know'st--I was begone,?Like him who fill'd the eastern throne,?To whom the Watcher cried aloud;?That royal wretch of Babylon,?Who was so guilty and so proud.
Like him, with haughty, stubborn mind,?I, in my state, my comforts sought;?Delight and praise I hoped to find,?In what I builded, planted! bought!?Oh! arrogance! by misery taught -?Soon came a voice! I felt it come;?"Full be his cup, with evil fraught,?Demons his guides, and death his doom!"
Then was I cast from out my state;?Two fiends of darkness led my way;?They waked me early, watch'd me late,?My dread by night, my plague by day!?Oh! I was made their sport, their play,?Through many a stormy troubled year;?And how they used their passive prey?Is sad to tell: --but you shall hear.
And first before they sent me forth.?Through this unpitying world to run,?They robb'd Sir Eustace of his worth,?Lands, manors, lordships, every one;?So was that gracious man undone,?Was spurn'd as vile, was scorn'd as poor,?Whom every former friend would shun,?And menials drove from every door.
Then rose ill-favour'd Ones, whom none?But my unhappy eyes could view,?Led me, with wild emotion, on,?And, with resistless terror, drew.?Through lands we fled, o'er seas we flew,?And halted on a boundless plain;?Where nothing fed, nor breathed, nor grew,?But silence ruled the still domain.
Upon that boundless plain, below,?The setting sun's last rays were shed,?And gave a mild and sober glow,?Where all were still, asleep, or dead;?Vast ruins in the midst were spread,?Pillars and pediments sublime,?Where the gray mass had form'd a bed,?And clothed the crumbling spoils of time.
There was I fix'd, I know not how,?Condemn'd for untold years to stay:?Yet years were not;--one dreadful Now?Endured no change of night or day;?The same mild evening's sleeping ray?Shone softly solemn and serene,?And all that time I gazed away,?The setting sun's sad rays were seen.
At length a moment's sleep stole on, -?Again came my commission'd foes;?Again through sea and land we're gone,?No peace, no respite, no repose;?Above the dark broad sea we rose,?We ran through bleak and frozen land;?I had no strength their strength t'oppose,?An infant in a giant's hand.
They placed me where those streamers play,?Those nimble beams of brilliant light;?It would the stoutest heart dismay,?To see, to feel, that dreadful sight:?So swift, so pure, so cold, so bright,?They pierced my frame with icy wound;?And all that half-year's polar night,?Those dancing streamers wrapp'd me round.
Slowly that darkness pass'd away,?When down upon the earth I fell, -?Some hurried sleep was mine by day;?But soon as toll'd the evening bell,?They forced me on, where ever dwell?Far-distant men, in cities fair,?Cities of whom no travellers tell,?Nor feet but mine were wanderers there.
Their watchmen stare, and stand aghast,?As on we hurry through the dark;?The watch-light blinks as we go past,?The watch-dog shrinks and fears to bark;?The watch-tower's bell sounds shrill; and, hark?The free wind blows--we've left the town -?A wild sepulchral ground I mark,?And on a tombstone place me down.
What monuments of mighty dead!?What tombs of various kinds are found!?And stones erect their shadows shed?On humble graves, with wickers bound,?Some risen fresh,
![](qr/37022/2.png)
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the
Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.