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At once! a real terror fill'd the heart,
And bursting flames involved the mimic scene.
And pressing on, where sinking columns blaz'd,
Through folding clouds of suffocating smoke,
And rushing o'er the fall'n, with breathless haste,
The frenzied croud, in wild confusion broke.
The speechless father like a maniac mov'd,
His fainting daughter clasping to his breast,
The youth in anguish bore the maid he lov'd,
But death and agony must shade the rest.
O scene of horror! Night of deep despair!
How each gay prospect, clad in fairest light,
Fades at the storm of grief, or cloud of care,
And sinks oblivious, in the gloom of night!
O bliss of earth! How bright and insincere;
Unworthy of the pains we all bestow!
The proudest hopes that deck this dazzling sphere
But tempt the blast, and urge the darts of woe.
Then let us seek the joys of heavenly birth,
Which the fierce flame, that lights the day of doom,
And melts the basis of the solid earth,
May purify, but never can consume.
