Classic Poem

I.

" How short the span of Life ! some hours possess'd,
Warm but to cool, and active but to rest! —
The age-worn fibres goaded to contract,
By repetition palsied, cease to act;
When Time's cold hands the languid senses seize.
Chill the dull nerves, the lingering currents freeze;
Organic matter, unreclaim'd by Life,
Reverts to elements by chemic strife.
Thus Heat evolv'd from some fermenting mass
Expands the kindling atoms into gas;
Which sink ere long in cold concentric rings,
Condensed, on Gravity's descending wings.

" But R EPRODUCTION with ethereal fires
New Life rekindles, ere the first expires;
Calls up renascent Youth, ere tottering age
Quits the dull scene, and gives him to the stage;
Bids on his cheek the rose of beauty blow,
And binds the wreaths of pleasure round his brow;
With finer links the vital chain extends,
And the long line of Being never ends.

" Self-moving Engines by unbending springs
May walk on earth, or flap their mimic wings;
In tubes of glass mercurial columns rise,
Or sink, obedient to the incumbent skies;
Or, as they touch the figured scale, repeat
The nice gradations of circumfluent heat.
But R EPRODUCTION , when the perfect Elf
Forms from fine glands another like itself,
Gives the true character of life and sense,
And parts the organic from the chemic Ens. —
Where milder skies protect the nascent brood,
And earth's warm bosom yields salubrious food;
Each new Descendant with superior powers
Of sense and motion speeds the transient hours;
Braves every season, tenants every clime,
And Nature rises on the wings of Time.

" As Life discordant elements arrests,
Rejects the noxious, and the pure digests;
Combines with Heat the fluctuating mass,
And gives awhile solidity to gas;
Organic forms with chemic changes strive,
Live but to die, and die but to revive!
Immortal matter braves the transient storm,
Mounts from the wreck, unchanging but in form. —

" So, as the sages of the East record
In sacred symbol, or unletter'd word;
Emblem of Life, to change eternal doom'd,
The beauteous form of fair A DONIS bloom'd. —
On Syrian hills the graceful Hunter slain
Dyed with his gushing blood the shuddering plain;
And, slow-descending to the Elysian shade,
Awhile with P ROSERPINE reluctant stray'd;
Soon from the yawning grave the bursting clay
Restor'd the Beauty to delighted day;
Array'd in youth's resucitated charms,
And young D IONE woo'd him to her arms. —
Pleased for a while the assurgent youth above
Relights the golden lamp of life and love;
Ah, soon again to leave the cheerful light,
And sink alternate to the realms of night.

II.

" H ENCE ere Vitality, as time revolves,
Leaves the cold organ, and the mass dissolves;
The Reproductions of the living Ens
From sires to sons, unknown to sex, commence.
New buds and bulbs the living fibre shoots
On lengthening branches, and protruding roots;
Or on the father's side from bursting glands
The adhering young its nascent form expands;
In branching lines the parent-trunk adorns,
And parts ere long like plumage, hairs, or horns.

" So the lone Truffle, lodged beneath the earth,
Shoots from paternal roots the tuberous birth;
No stamen-males ascend, and breathe above,
No seed-born offspring lives by female love.
From each young tree, for future buds design'd,
Organic drops exsude beneath the rind;
While these with appetencies nice invite,
And those with apt propensities unite;
New embryon fibrils round the trunk combine
With quick embrace, and form the living line:
Whose plume and rootlet at their early birth
Seek the dry air, or pierce the humid earth.

" So safe in waves prolific Volvox dwells,
And five descendants crowd his lucid cells;
So the male Polypus parental swims,
And branching infants bristle all his limbs.
So the lone Taenia, as he grows, prolongs
His flatten'd form with young adherent throngs;
Unknown to sex the pregnant oyster swells,
And coral-insects build their radiate shells;
Parturient Sires caress their infant train,
And heaven-born S TORGE weaves the social chain;
Successive births her tender cares combine,
And soft affections live along the line.

" On angel-wings the G ODDESS F ORM descends,
Round her fond broods her silver arms she bends;
White streams of milk her tumid bosom swell,
And on her lips ambrosial kisses dwell.
Light joys on twinkling feet before her dance
With playful nod, and momentary glance;
Behind, attendant on the pansied plain,
Young P SYCHE treads with C UPID in her train.

III.

" I N these lone births no tender mothers blend
Their genial powers to nourish or defend;
No nutrient streams from Beauty's orbs improve
These orphan babes of solitary love;
Birth after birth the line unchanging runs,
And fathers live transmitted in their sons;
Each passing year beholds the unvarying kinds,
The same their manners, and the same their minds.
Till, as erelong successive buds decay,
And insect-shoals successive pass away,
Increasing wants the pregnant parents vex
With the fond wish to form a softer sex;
Whose milky rills with pure ambrosial food
Might charm and cherish their expected brood.
The potent wish in the productive hour
Calls to its aid Imagination's power,
O'er embryon throngs with mystic charm presides,
And sex from sex the nascent world divides,
With soft affections warms the callow trains,
And gives to laughing Love his nymphs and swains;
Whose mingling virtues interweave at length
The mother's beauty with the father's strength.

" So tulip bulbs emerging from the seed,
Year after year unknown to sex proceed;
Erewhile the stamens and the styles display
Their petal-curtains, and adorn the day;
The beaux and beauties in each blossom glow
With wedded joy, or amatorial woe.
Unmarried Aphides prolific prove
For nine successions uninform'd of love;
New sexes next with softer passions spring,
Breathe the fond vow, and woo with quivering wing.

" So erst in Paradise creation's L ORD ,
As the first leaves of holy writ record,
From Adam's rib, who press'd the flowery grove,
And dreamt delighted of untasted love,
To cheer and charm his solitary mind,
Form'd a new sex, the M OTHER OF M ANKIND .
— Buoy'd on light step the Beauty seem'd to swim,
And stretch'd alternate every pliant limb;
Pleased on Euphrates' velvet margin stood,
And view'd her playful image in the flood;
Own'd the fine flame of love, as life began,
And smiled enchantment on adoring Man.
Down her white neck and o'er her bosom roll'd,
Flow'd in sweet negligence her locks of gold;
Round her fine form the dim transparence play'd,
And show'd the beauties, that it seem'd to shade.
— Enamour'd A DAM gaz'd with fond surprise,
And drank delicious passion from her eyes;
Felt the new thrill of young Desire, and press'd
The graceful Virgin to his glowing breast. —
The conscious Fair betrays her soft alarms,
Sinks with warm blush into his closing arms,
Yields to his fond caress with wanton play,
And sweet, reluctant, amorous, delay.

IV.

" W HERE no new Sex with glands nutritious feeds,
Nurs'd in her womb, the solitary breeds;
No Mother's care their early steps directs,
Warms in her bosom, with her wings protects;
The clime unkind, or noxious food instills
To embryon nerves hereditary ills;
The feeble births acquired diseases chase,
Till Death extinguish the degenerate race.

" So grafted trees with shadowy summits rise,
Spread their fair blossoms, and perfume the skies;
Till canker taints the vegetable blood,
Mines round the bark, and feeds upon the wood.
So, years successive, from perennial roots
The wire or bulb with lessen'd vigour shoots;
Till curled leaves, or barren flowers, betray
A waning lineage, verging to decay;
Or till, amended by connubial powers,
Rise seedling progenies from sexual flowers.

" E'en where unmix'd the breed, in sexual tribes
Parental taints the nascent babe imbibes,
Eternal war the Gout and Mania wage
With fierce uncheck'd hereditary rage;
Sad Beauty's form foul Scrofula surrounds
With bones distorted, and putrescent wounds;
And, fell Consumption! thy unerring dart
Wets its broad wing in Youth's reluctant heart.

" With pausing step, at night's refulgent noon,
Beneath the sparkling stars, and lucid moon,
Plung'd in the shade of some religious tower,
The slow bell counting the departed hour,
O'er gaping tombs were shed umbrageous Yews
On mouldering bones their cold unwholesome dews;
While low aerial voices whisper round,
And moondrawn spectres dance upon the ground;
Poetic M ELANCHOLY loves to tread,
And bend in silence o'er the countless Dead;
Marks with loud sobs infantine Sorrows rave,
And wring their pale hands o'er their Mother's grave;
Hears on the new-turn'd sod with gestures wild
The kneeling Beauty call her buried child;
Upbraid with timorous accents Heaven's decrees,
And with sad sighs augment the passing breeze.
" Stern Time," She cries, " receives from Nature's womb
Her beauteous births, and bears them to the tomb;
Calls all her sons from earth's remotest bourn,
And from the closing portals none return!"

V.

U RANIA paused, — upturn'd her streaming eyes,
And her white bosom heaved with silent sighs;
With her the Muse laments the sum of things,
And hides her sorrows with her meeting wings;
Long o'er the wrecks of lovely Life they weep,
Then pleased reflect, " to die is but to sleep; "
From Nature's coffins to her cradles turn,
Smile with young joy, with new affection burn.

And now the Muse, with mortal woes impress'd,
Thus the fair Hierophant again address'd.
— " Ah me! celestial Guide, thy words impart
Ills undeserved, that rend the nascent heart!
O, Goddess, say, if brighter scenes improve
Air-breathing tribes, and births of sexual love? " —
The smiling Fair obeys the inquiring Muse,
And in sweet tones her grateful task pursues.

" Now on broad pinions from the realms above
Descending C UPID seeks the Cyprian grove;
To his wide arms enamour'd P SYCHE springs,
And clasps her lover with aurelian wings.
A purple sash across H IS shoulder bends,
And fringed with gold the quiver'd shafts suspends;
The bending bow obeys the silken string,
And, as he steps, the silver arrows ring.
Thin folds of gauze with dim transparence flow
O'er H ER fair forehead, and her neck of snow;
The winding woof her graceful limbs surrounds,
Swells in the breeze, and sweeps the velvet grounds;
As hand in hand along the flowery meads
His blushing bride the quiver'd hero leads;
Charm'd round their heads pursuing Zephyrs throng,
And scatter roses, as they move along;
Bright beams of Spring in soft effusion play,
And halcyon Hours invite them on their way.

" Delighted H YMEN hears their whisper'd vows,
And binds his chaplets round their polish'd brows,
Guides to his altar, ties the flowery bands,
And as they kneel, unites their willing hands.
" Behold, he cries, Earth! Ocean! Air above,
" And hail the D EITIES OF Sexual L OVE !
" All forms of Life shall this fond Pair delight,
" And sex to sex the willing world unite;
" Shed their sweet smiles in Earth's unsocial bowers,
" Fan with soft gales, and gild with brighter hours;
" Fill Pleasure's chalice unalloy'd with pain,
" And give S OCIETY his golden chain."

" Now young D ESIRES , on purple pinions borne,
Mount the warm gales of Manhood's rising morn;
With softer fires through virgin bosoms dart,
Flush the pale cheek, and goad the tender heart.
Ere the weak powers of transient Life decay,
And Heaven's ethereal image melts away;
L OVE with nice touch renews the organic frame,
Forms a young Ens, another and the same;
Gives from his rosy lips the vital breath,
And parries with his hand the shafts of death;
While B EAUTY broods with angel wings unfurl'd
O'er nascent life, and saves the sinking world.

" H ENCE on green leaves the sexual Pleasures dwell,
And Loves and Beauties crowd the blossom's bell;
The wakeful Anther in his silken bed
O'er the pleased Stigma bows his waxen head;
With meeting lips and mingling smiles they sup
Ambrosial dewdrops from the nectar'd cup;
Or buoy'd in air the plumy Lover springs,
And seeks his panting bride on Hymen-wings.

" The Stamen males, with appetencies just,
Produce a formative prolific dust;
With apt propensities, the Styles recluse
Secrete a formative prolific juice;
These in the pericarp erewhile arrive,
Rush to each other, and embrace alive.
— Form'd by new powers progressive parts succeed,
Join in one whole, and swell into a seed.

" So in fond swarms the living Anthers shine
Of bright Vallisner on the wavy Rhine;
Break from their stems, and on the liquid glass
Surround the admiring stigmas as they pass;
The love-sick Beauties lift their essenced brows,
Sigh to the Cyprian queen their secret vows,
Like watchful Hero feel their soft alarms,
And clasp their floating lovers in their arms.

" Hence the male Ants their gauzy wings unfold,
And young Lampyris waves his plumes of gold;
The Glow-Worm sparkles with impassion'd light
On each green bank, and charms the eye of night;
While new desires the painted Snail perplex,
And twofold love unites the double sex.

" Hence, when the Morus in Italia's lands
To spring's warm beam its timid leaf expands;
The Silk-Worm broods in countless tribes above
Crop the green treasure, uninform'd of love;
Erewhile the changeful worm with circling head
Weaves the nice curtains of his silken bed;
Web within web involves his larva form,
Alike secured from sunshine and from storm;
For twelve long days He dreams of blossom'd groves,
Untasted honey, and ideal loves;
Wakes from his trance, alarm'd with young Desire,
Finds his new sex, and feels ecstatic fire;
From flower to flower with honey'd lip he springs,
And seeks his velvet loves on silver wings.

VI.

" The Demon, Jealousy, with Gorgon frown
Blasts the sweet flowers of Pleasure not his own,
Rolls his wild eyes, and through the shuddering grove
Pursues the steps of unsuspecting Love;
Or drives o'er rattling plains his iron car,
Flings his red torch, and lights the flames of war.

" Here Cocks heroic burn with rival rage,
And Quails with Quails in doubtful fight engage;
Of armed heels and bristling plumage proud,
They sound the insulting clarion shrill and loud,
With rustling pinions meet, and swelling chests,
And seize with closing beaks their bleeding crests;
Rise on quick wing above the struggling foe,
And aim in air the death-devoting blow.
There the hoarse stag his croaking rival scorns,
And butts and parries with his branching horns;
Contending Boars with tusk enamell'd strike,
And guard with shoulder-shield the blow oblique;
While female bands attend in mute surprise,
And view the victor with admiring eyes. —

" So Knight on Knight, recorded in romance,
Urged the proud steed, and couch'd the extended lance;
He, whose dread prowess with resistless force,
O'erthrew the opposing warrior and his horse,
Bless'd, as the golden guerdon of his toils,
Bow'd to the Beauty, and receiv'd her smiles.

" So when fair H ELEN with ill-fated charms,
By P ARIS wooed, provoked the world to arms,
Left her vindictive Lord to sigh in vain
For broken vows, lost love, and cold disdain;
Fired at his wrongs, associate to destroy
The realms unjust of proud adulterous Troy,
Unnumber'd Heroes braved the dubious fight,
And sunk lamented to the shades of night.

" Now vows connubial chain the plighted pair,
And join paternal with maternal care;
The married birds with nice selection cull
Soft thistle-down, gray moss, and scattered wool,
Line the secluded nest with feathery rings,
Meet with fond bills, and woo with fluttering wings.
Week after week, regardless of her food,
The incumbent Linnet warms her future brood;
Each spotted egg with ivory lips she turns,
Day after day with fond expectance burns,
Hears the young prisoner chirping in his cell,
And breaks in hemispheres the obdurate shell.
Loud trills sweet Philomel his tender strain,
Charms his fond bride, and wakes his infant train;
Perch'd on the circling moss, the listening throng
Wave their young wings, and whisper to the song.

" The Lion-King forgets his savage pride,
And courts with playful paws his tawny bride;
The listening Tiger hears with kindling flame
The love-lorn night-call of his brinded dame.
Despotic L OVE dissolves the bestial war,
Bends their proud necks, and joins them to his car;
Shakes o'er the obedient pairs his silken thong,
And goads the humble, or restrains the strong. —
Slow roll the silver wheels, — in beauty's pride
Celestial P SYCHE blushing by his side. —
The lordly Bull behind and warrior Horse
With voice of thunder shake the echoing course,
Chain'd to the car with herds domestic move,
And swell the triumph of despotic L OVE .

" Pleased as they pass along the breezy shore
In twinkling shoals the scaly realms adore,
Move on quick fin with undulating train,
Or lift their slimy foreheads from the main.
High o'er their heads on pinions broad display'd
The feather'd nations shed a floating shade;
Pair after pair enamour'd shoot along,
And trill in air the gay impassion'd song.
With busy hum in playful swarms around
Emerging insects leave the peopled ground,
Rise in dark clouds, and borne in airy rings
Sport round the car, and wave their golden wings.
Admiring Fauns pursue on dancing hoof,
And bashful Dryads peep from shades aloof;
Emerging Nereids rise from coral cells,
Enamour'd Tritons sound their twisted shells;
From sparkling founts enchanted Naiads move,
And swell the triumph of despotic L OVE .

" Delighted Flora, gazing from afar,
Greets with mute homage the triumphal car;
On silvery slippers steps with bosom bare,
Bends her white knee, and bows her auburn hair;
Calls to her purple heaths, and blushing bowers,
Bursts her green gems, and opens all her flowers;
O'er the bright Pair a shower of roses sheds,
And crowns with wreaths of hyacinth their heads. —
— Slow roll the silver wheels with snowdrops deck'd,
And primrose bands the cedar spokes connect;
Round the fine pole the twisting woodbine clings,
And knots of jasmine clasp the bending springs;
Bright daisy links the velvet harness chain,
And rings of violets join each silken rein;
Festoon'd behind, the snow-white lilies bend,
And tulip-tassels on each side depend.
— Slow rolls the car, — the enamour'd Flowers exhale
Their treasured sweets, and whisper to the gale;
Their ravelled buds, and wrinkled cups unfold,
Nod their green stems, and wave their bells of gold;
Breathe their soft sighs from each enchanted grove,
And hail T HE D EITIES OF Sexual L OVE .

" O NWARD with march subline in saffron robe
Young H YMEN steps, and traverses the globe;
O'er burning sands, and snow-clad mountains, treads,
Blue fields of air, and ocean's briny beds;
Flings from his radiant torch celestial light
O'er Day's wide concave, and illumes the Night.
With dulcet eloquence his tuneful tongue
Convokes and captivates the Fair and Young;
His golden lamp with ray ethereal dyes
The blushing cheek, and lights the laughing eyes;
With secret flames the virgin's bosom warms,
And lights the impatient bridegroom to her arms;
With lovely life all Nature's frame inspires,
And, as they sink, rekindles all her fires. "

VII.

Now paused the beauteous Teacher, and awhile
Gazed on her train with sympathetic smile.
" Beware of Love! she cried, ye Nymphs, and hear
" His twanging bowstring with alarmed ear;
" Fly the first whisper of the distant dart,
" Or shield with adamant the fluttering heart;
" To secret shades, ye Virgin trains, retire,
" And in your bosoms guard the vestal fire."
— The obedient Beauties hear her words, advised,
And bow with laugh repress'd, and smile chastised.

Now at her nod the Nymph's attendant bring
Translucent water from the bubbling spring;
In crystal cups the waves salubrious shine,
Unstain'd untainted with immodest wine.
Next, where emerging from its ancient roots
Its widening boughs the Tree of Knowledge shoots;
Pluck'd with nice choice before the Muse they placed
The now no longer interdicted taste.
Awhile they sit, from higher cares released,
And pleased partake the intellectual feast.
Of good and ill they spoke, effect and cause,
Celestial agencies, and Nature's laws.

So when angelic Forms to Syria sent
Sat in the cedar shade by A BRAHAM 's tent;
A spacious bowl the admiring Patriarch fills
With dulcet water from the scanty rills;
Sweet fruits and kernels gathers from his hoard,
With milk and butter piles the plenteous board;
While on the heated hearth his Consort bakes
Fine flour well kneaded in unleaven'd cakes.
The Guests ethereal quaff the lucid flood,
Smile on their hosts, and taste terrestrial food;
And while from seraph-lips sweet converse springs,
Lave their fair feet, and close their silver wings.