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POEMS.


XXXV.


But thou, my country, thou shalt never fall,

Save with thy children—thy maternal care,

Thy lavish love, thy blessings showered on all—

These are thy fetters—seas and stormy air

Are the wide barrier of thy horders, where,

Among thy gallant sons who guard thee well,

Thou laugh'st at enemies: who shall then declare

The date of thy deep-founded strength, or tell

How happy, in thy lap, the sons of men shall dwell?

——————

THANATOPSIS.
To him who in the love of Nature holds

Communion with her visible forms, she speaks

A various language; for his gayer hours

She has a voice of gladness, and a smile

And eloquence of beauty, and she glides

Into his darker musings, with a mild

And healing sympathy, that steals away

Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts

Of the last bitter hour come like a blight

Over thy spirit, and sad images

Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,

And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,

Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart ;—

Go forth, under the open sky, and list