Classic Poem

AN ODE .

Dull Atheist! could a giddy dance
Of atoms lawless hurl'd,
Construct so wonderful, so wise,
So harmoniz'd a world?

Why do not Arabes driving sands,
The sport of every storm,
Fair freighted fleets, the child of chance,
Or gorgeous temples form?

Presumptuous wretch! thyself survey,
That lesser fabrick scan;
Tell me from whence th' immortal dust,
The god, the reptile man?

Where wast thou, when this populous earth,
From chaos burst its way,
When stars exulting sung the morn,
And hail'd the new-born day?

What, when the embryo speck of life,
The miniature of man,
Nurs'd in the womb, its slender form
To stretch and swell began?

Say, didst thou warp the fibre woof?
Or mould the sentient brain?
Thy fingers stretch the living nerve?
Or fill the purple vein?

Didst thou then bid the bounding heart
Its endless toil begin?
Or clothe in flesh the hardening bone,
Or weave the silken skin?

Who bids the babe to catch the breeze,
Expand its panting breast;
And with impatient hands untaught,
The milky rill arrest?

Or who with unextinguish'd love
The mother's bosom warms,
Along the rugged paths of life
To bear it in her arms?

A God! a God! the wide earth shouts,
A God! the heavens reply;
He moulded in his palm the world,
And hung it in the sky.

Let us make man! — With beauty clad,
And health in every vein;
And reason thron'd upon his brow,
Stepp'd forth majestic man.

Around he turns his wond'ring eyes,
All Nature's works surveys;
Admires the earth! the skies! himself!
And tries his tongue in praise.

Ye hills and vales! ye meads and woods,
Bright sun, and glittering stars!
Fair creatures, tell me if you can,
From whence, and what I am?

What parent power, all great and good,
Do these around me own;
Tell me, Creation, tell me how
T' adore the vast Unknown!