Classic Poem

Thro ' H ISTORY'S faithful glass when I survey
What kingdoms flourish, and what realms decay,
Now touch'd with pity, now inspir'd with rage,
Scarce can I trust the long-recorded page,
New, fatal proofs from ancient Annals call
Yet deem these ancient Annals, fable all!
Lo! once in learned pomp where A THENS rose
The green pool stagnates, and the hemlock grows,
One dreary sepulchre, one mingled gloom,
Lo! deep in ruin droops imperial R OME !
Say, where that wide unconquerable sway,
Where once the M ACEDONIAN Madman lay?
Burst like a gaudy bubble on the stream,
'Tis past, and all it's glory but a dream.
Yet, since, see V ENICE , solitary Isle,
Like V ENUS , mid the genial Ocean smile,
With awe, the rich C OLUMBIAN tract behold
Clasp half cur Globe in it's gigantic fold,
B RITAIN , sublime it's subject shores among,
And fair J UVERNA , nurse of lofty song.
Thro' heedless luxury, ambitious pride,
Thro' lust of plunder, or thro' heav'n defy'd,
When slow destruction mines the towery wall,
When the huge pillars of a nation fall,
Succeeding nations gradual fill it's place,
To swell of boundless Time the mighty space.
In climes least favour'd by benignant skies,
The white sails flap, and stately bulwarks rife,
Commerce and patient I NDUSTRY atchieve
What S LOTH and O PULENCE untempted leave,
Soon the dry wilderness is seen no more,
Huge cities shine where deserts lay before,
Mid the deep glen amaz'd the hermit views
The long canal, the garden's vernal hues,
Or by the mountain's rough but sheltering side,
The newly-risen hamlet's rustic pride.

Yet why should I lament as I survey
How kingdoms flourish, and how realms decay,
When ev'n in my own youth's unfinish'd bound,
Each strange vicissitude of fortune's found,
And all the changes of the tragic scene
Glare full as copious on the rural green.
Each dear delight of childhood's cloudless morn,
When blush'd the rose without the fest'ring thorn,
Each harmless sport that vacant pastime knew,
False to hoar reason, to gay fancy true,
With eagle-pinion rolling o'er my head
Sadly I mourn,—and sicken when they're fled.