The Poetical Works of Edward Young | Page 9

oh! how vast a pain?For crimes, which made the Godhead bleed in vain!?Annull'd his groans, as far as in them lay,?And flung his agonies, and death, away!?As our dire punishment for ever strong,?Our constitution too for ever young,?Curs'd with returns of vigour, still the same,?Powerful to bear, and satisfy the flame:?Still to be caught, and still to be pursu'd!?To perish still, and still to be renew'd!?"And this, my help! my God! at thy decree??Nature is chang'd, and hell should succour me.?And canst thou then look down from perfect bliss,?And see me plunging in the dark abyss??Calling thee Father, in a sea of fire??Or pouring blasphemies at thy desire??With mortals' anguish wilt thou raise thy name,?And by my pangs omnipotence proclaim??"Thou, who canst toss the planets to and fro,?Contract not thy great vengeance to my woe;?Crush worlds; in hotter flames fall'n angels lay;?On me Almighty wrath is cast away.?Call back thy thunders, Lord, hold in thy rage,?Nor with a speck of wretchedness engage:?Forget me quite, nor stoop a worm to blame;?But lose me in the greatness of thy name.?Thou art all love, all mercy, all divine,?And shall I make these glories cease to shine??Shall sinful man grow great by his offence,?And from its course turn back Omnipotence??"Forbid it! and oh! grant, great God, at least?This one, this slender, almost no request;?When I have wept a thousand lives away,?When torment is grown weary of its prey,?When I have rav'd ten thousand years in fire,?Ten thousand thousand, let me then expire."?Deep anguish! but too late; the hopeless soul,?Bound to the bottom of the burning pool,?Though loth, and ever loud blaspheming, owns?He's justly doom'd to pour eternal groans;?Enclos'd with horrors, and transfix'd with pain,?Rolling in vengeance, struggling with his chain:?To talk to fiery tempests; to implore?The raging flame to give its burnings o'er;?To toss, to writhe, to pant beneath his load,?And bear the weight of an offended God.?The favour'd of their Judge, in triumph move?To take possession of their thrones above;?Satan's accurs'd desertion to supply,?And fill the vacant stations of the sky;?Again to kindle long-extinguish'd rays,?And with new lights dilate the heavenly blaze;?To crop the roses of immortal youth,?And drink the fountain-head of sacred truth?To swim in seas of bliss, to strike the string,?And lift the voice to their Almighty King;?To lose eternity in grateful lays,?And fill heaven's wide circumference with praise.?But I attempt the wondrous height in vain,?And leave unfinish'd the too lofty strain:?What boldly I begin, let others end;?My strength exhausted, fainting I descend,?And choose a less, but no ignoble, theme,?Dissolving elements, and worlds, in flame.?The fatal period, the great hour, is come,?And nature shrinks at her approaching doom;?Loud peals of thunder give the sign, and all?Heaven's terrors in array surround the ball;?Sharp lightnings with the meteor's blaze conspire,?And, darted downward, set the world on fire;?Black rising clouds the thicken'd ether choke,?And spiry flames dart through the rolling smoke,?With keen vibrations cut the sullen night,?And strike the darken'd sky with dreadful light;?From heaven's four regions, with immortal force,?Angels drive on the wind's impetuous course,?T' enrage the flame: It spreads, it soars on high,?Swells in the storm, and billows through the sky:?Here winding pyramids of fire ascend,?Cities and deserts in one ruin blend;?Here blazing volumes wafted, overwhelm?The spacious face of a far distant realm;?There, undermin'd, down rush eternal hills,?The neighb'ring vales the vast destruction fills.?Hear'st thou that dreadful crack? that sound which broke Like peals of thunder, and the centre shook??What wonders must that groan of nature tell??Olympus there, and mightier Atlas, fell;?Which seem'd above the reach of fate to stand,?A tow'ring monument of God's right hand;?Now dust and smoke, whose brow, so lately, spread?O'er shelter'd countries its diffusive shade.?Show me that celebrated spot, where all?The various rulers of the sever'd ball?Have humbly sought wealth, honour, and redress,?That land which heaven seem'd diligent to bless,?Once call'd Britannia: can her glories end??And can't surrounding seas her realms defend??Alas! in flames behold surrounding seas!?Like oil, their waters but augment the blaze.?Some angel say, where ran proud Asia's bound??Or where with fruits was fair Europa crown'd??Where stretch'd waste Lybia? Where did India's shore?Sparkle in diamonds, and her golden ore??Each lost in each, their mingling kingdoms glow,?And all dissolv'd, one fiery deluge flow:?Thus earth's contending monarchies are join'd,?And a full period of ambition find.?And now whate'er or swims, or walks, or flies,?Inhabitants of sea, or earth, or skies;?All on whom Adam's wisdom fix'd a name,?All plunge, and perish in the conquering flame.?This globe alone would but defraud the fire,?Starve its devouring rage: the flakes aspire,?And catch the clouds, and make the heavens their prey;?The sun, the moon, the stars, all melt away;?All, all is lost; no monument, no sign,?Where once so proudly blaz'd the gay machine.?So bubbles on the foaming stream expire,?So sparks that scatter from the kindling fire;?The devastations of one dreadful hour?The great Creator's six