Page:Poems Sigourney 1827.pdf/225

Where quick perception shrinks to find
    On eye and ear the envious seal,
And wild ideas throng the mind,
    Which palsied speech may ne'er reveal;

Where instinct, like a robber bold,
    Steals sever'd links from Reason's chain,
And leaping o'er her barrier cold
    Proclaims the proud precaution vain:

Say, who shall with magician's wand
    That elemental mass compose,
Where young affections pure and fond
    Sleep like the germ mid wintry snows?

Who, in that undecypher'd scroll
    The mystic characters may see,
Save Him who reads the secret soul,
    And holds of life and death the key?

Then, on thy midnight journey roam,
    Poor wandering child of rayless gloom,
And to thy last and narrow home
    Drop gently from this living tomb.

Yes, uninterpreted and drear,
    Toil onward with benighted mind,
Still kneel at prayers thou can'st not hear,
    And grope for truth thou may'st not find.

No scroll of friendship or of love,
    Must breathe its language o'er thy heart,
Nor that Blest Book which guides above
    Its message to thy soul impart.