Classic Poem

[Versified from an Apologue by Dr. Sheridan]

Affliction one day, as she hark'd to the roar
Of the stormy and struggling billow,
Drew a beautiful form on the sands of the shore,
With the branch of a weeping-willow.

Jupiter, struck with the noble plan,
As he roam'd on the verge of the ocean,
Breathed on the figure, and calling it Man,
Endued it with life and motion.

A creature so glorious in mind and in frame,
So stamp'd with each parent's impression,
Amongst them a point of contention became,
Each claiming the right of possession.

He is mine, said Affliction; I gave him his birth,
I alone am his cause of creation; —
The materials were furnish'd by me, answered Earth; —
I gave him, said Jove, animation.

The gods, all assembled in solemn divan,
After hearing each claimant's petition,
Pronounced a definitive verdict on Man,
And thus settled his fate's disposition:

" Let Affliction possess her own child, till the woes
Of life cease to harass and goad it;
After death give his body to Earth, whence it rose,
And his spirit to Jove who bestow'd it. "