Classic Poem

ODE II.

1.

I N a vision I was seized,
When the elements were hush'd
In the stillness that is felt
Ere the Storm goes abroad;
Through the air I was borne away;
And in spirit I beheld
Where a City lay beneath,
Like a valley mapp'd below,
When seen from a mountain top

2.

The night had closed around,
And o'er the sullen sky
Were the wide wings of darkness spread,
The City's myriad lamps
Shone mistily below,
Like stars in the bosom of a lake;
And its murmurs arose
Incessant and deep,
Like the sound of the sea
Where it rakes on a stony shore.

3.

A voice from the darkness went forth,
" Son of Man, look below!
This is the City to be visited;
For as a fountain
Casteth its waters,
So casteth she her wickedness abroad!
Mine eyes were opened then,
And the veil which conceals
The Invisible World was withdrawn

4.

I look'd, and, behold!
As the Patriarch, in his dream,
Saw the Angels to and fro
Pass from Heaven to Earth,
On their ministry of love,
So saw I where a way
From that great City led
To the black abyss of bale,
To the dolorous region of Death.

5.

Wide and beaten was the way,
And deep the descent
To the Adamantine Gates,
Which were thrown on their hinges back
Wailing and Woe were within,
And the gleam of sulphurous fires,
In darkness and smoke involved.

6.

And through those open gates
The Fiends were swarming forth;
Hastily, joyfully,
As to a jubilee,
The Spirits accurst were trooping up;
They fill'd the streets,
And they bore with them curses and plagues;
And they scattered lies abroad,
Horrors, obscenities,
Blasphemies, treasons,
And the seeds of strife and death.

7.

" Son of Man, look up! " said the Voice
I look'd and beheld
The way which angels tread,
Seen like a pillar of light
That slants from a broken sky.
That heavenly way by clouds was closed,
Heavy, and thick, and dark, with thunder charged;
And there a Spirit stood,
Who raised, in menacing act, his awful arm;
He spake aloud, and thrill'd
My inmost soul with fear.

8.

" Woe! Woe!
Woe to the city where Faction reigns!
Woe to the land where Sedition prevails!
Woe to the nation whom Hell deceives!
Woe! Woe!
They have eyes, and they will not see!
They have ears, and they will not hear!
They have hearts, and they will not feel!
Woe to the People who fasten their eyes!
Woe to the People who deafen their ears!
Woe to the People who harden their hearts!
Woe! Woe!
The vials are charged;
The measure is full,
The wrath is ripe; —
Woe! Woe! "

9.

But from that City then, behold,
A gracious form arose!
Her snow-white wings, upon the dusky air,
Shone like the waves that glow
Around a midnight keel in liquid light.
Upward her supplicating arms were spread,
And, as her face to heaven
In eloquent grief she raised,
Loose, like a Comet's refluent tresses, hung
Her heavenly hair dispersed

10.

" Not yet, O Lord! not yet,
Oh, merciful as just!
Not yet! " — the Tutelary Angel cried;
" For I must plead with thee for this poor land,
Guilty — but still the seat
Of genuine piety, —
The mother, still, of noble minds, —
The nurse of high desires!
Not yet, O Lord, not yet,
Give thou thine anger way!
Thou, who hast set thy Bow
Of Mercy in the clouds,
Not yet, O Lord, pour out
The vials of thy wrath!

11.

" Oh, for the sake
Of that religion, pure and undefiled,
Here purchased by thy Martyrs' precious blood,
Mercy, O mercy, Lord!
For that well-order'd frame of equal laws,
Time's goodliest monument,
O'er which thy guardian shield
So oft hath been extended heretofore, —
Mercy, O mercy, Lord!
For the dear charities,
The household virtues, that in secret there,
Like sweetest violets, send their fragrance forth
Mercy, O mercy, Lord!

12.

" Oh, wilt thou quench the light
That should illuminate
The nations who in darkness sit,
And in the shadow of death? —
Oh, wilt thou stop the heart
Of intellectual life? —
Wilt thou seal the eye of the world? —
Mercy, O mercy, Lord!

13.

" Not for the guilty few,
Nor for the erring multitude,
The ignorant many, wickedly misled, —
Send thou thy vengeance down
Upon a land so long the dear abode
Of Freedom, Knowledge, Virtue, Faith, approved,
Thine own beloved land!
Oh, let not hell prevail
Against her past deserts, —
Against her actual worth, —
Against her living hopes, —
Against the prayers that rise
From righteous hearts this hour!

14.

" Plead with me, O ye dead! whose sacred dust
Is laid in hope within her hallow'd soil, —
Plead with me for your country, suffering now
Beneath such loathsome plagues
As ancient Egypt in her slime
And hot corruption bred.
Plead with me at this hour,
All wise and upright minds,
All honorable hearts, —
For ye abhor the sins
Which o'er the guilty land
Have drawn this gather'd storm!
Plead with me, Souls unborn,
Ye who are doomed upon this fateful spot
To pass your pilgrimage,
Earth's noblest heritors,
Or children of a ruin'd realm, to shame
And degradation born, —
(For this is on the issue of the hour!)
Plead with me, unborn Spirits! that the wrath
Deserved may pass away!

15.

" Join in my supplication, Seas and Lands, —
I call upon you all!
Thou, Europe, in whose cause,
Alone and undismay'd,
The generous nation strove;
For whose deliverance, in the Spanish fields,
Her noblest blood was pour'd
Profusely; and on that Brabantine plain,
(The proudest fight that e'er
By virtuous victory
Was hallowed to all time.)
Join with me, Africa!
For here hath thy redemption had its birth; —
Thou, India, who art blest
With peace and equity
Beneath her easy sway; —
And thou, America, who owest
The large and inextinguishable debt
Of filial love! — And ye,
Remote Antarctic Isles and Continent,
Where the glad tidings of the Gospel truth,
Her children are proclaiming faithfully; —
Join with me now to wrest
The thunderbolt from that relenting arm! —
Plead with me, Earth and Ocean, at this hour,
Thou, Ocean, for thy Queen,
And for thy benefactress, thou, O Earth! "

16.

The Angel ceased,
The vision fled;
The wind arose,
The clouds were rent,
They were drifted and scatter'd abroad;
And as I look'd, and saw
Where, through the clear blue sky, the silver Moon
Moved in her light serene,
A healing influence reach'd my heart,
And I felt in my soul
That the voice of the Angel was heard