Hath vanish'd from the bloodshot eye of thirst.
Firm in defence as valiant in the battle,
Assailing none, but all assaults repelling
With such determined chastisement, that foes
No longer dared to forage on his borders,
War shrunk from his dominions; simple laws,
Yet wise and equitable, he ordain'd
To rule a willing and obedient people.
Blood ceased to flow in sacrifice,-no more
The parents' hands were raised against their children, -Children no longer slew their aged parents,
Man prey'd not on his fellow-man, -within
The hallow'd circle of his patriarch-sway,
That seem'd, amidst barbarian clans around,
A garden in a waste of briar and hemlock.
Ere life's meridian, thus that chief had reach'd
The utmost pinnacle of savage grandeur,
And stood the envy of ignoble eyes.
The awe of humbler mortals, the example
Of youth's sublime ambition: but to him
It was not given to rest at any height;
The thoughts that travel to eternity.
Already had begun their pilgrimage,
Which time, nor change, nor life, nor death, could stop.
All that he saw, heard, felt, or could conceive,
Open'd new scenes of mental enterprise,
Imposed new tasks for arduous contemplation.
On the steep eminence which he had scaled,
To rise or fall were sole alternatives ;
He might not stand, and he disdain'd to fall:
Innate magnificence of mind upheld,
And buoyancy of genius bore him on.
Heaven, earth, and ocean, were to him familiar
In all their motions, aspects, changes; each
To him paid tribute of the knowledge hid
From uninquiring ignorance; to him.
Their gradual secrets, though with slow reserve,
Yet sure accumulation, all reveal'd.
But whence they came, even more than what they were,
Awaken'd wonder, and defied conjecture:
Blank wonder could not satisfy his soul,
And resolute conjecture would not yield,
Though foil'd a thousand times, in speculation
On themes that open'd immortality.
The gods whom his deluded countrymen
Acknowledged, were no gods to him; he scorn'd
The impotence of skill that carved such figures,
And pitied the fatuity of those
Who saw not in the abortions of their hands
The abortions of their minds.-'Twas the Creator He sought through every volume open to him,
From the small leaf that holds an insect's web,
From which ere long a colony shall issue
With wings and limbs as perfect as the eagle's,
To the stupendous ocean, that gives birth
And nourishment to everlasting millions
Of creatures, great and small, beyond the power
Of man to comprehend how they exist.
One thought amidst the multitude within him
Press'd with perpetual, with increasing, weight;
And yet the elastic soul beneath its burden
Wax'd strong and stronger, was enlarged, exalted,
With the necessity of bearing up
Against annihilation,-for that seem'd
The only refuge were this hope foregone.
It was as though he wrestled with an angel,
And would not let him go without a blessing,
If not extort the secret of his name.
This was that thought, that hope :-dumb idols,
And the vain homage of their worshippers,
Were proofs to him, not less than sun and stars,
That there were beings mightier far than man,
Or man had never dream'd of aught above him.
'Twas clear to him as was his own existence,
In which he felt the fact personified,
That man himself was for this world too mighty,
Possessing powers which could not ripen here,
But ask'd infinity to bring them forth,
And find employ for their unbounded scope.
Tradition told him that, in ancient time,
Sky, sun, and sea, were all the universe:
The sun grew tired of gazing on the sea
Day after day; then, with descending beams,
Day after day he pierced the dark abyss
Till he had reach'd its diamantine floor,-
Whence he drew up an island; as a tree
Grows in the desert from some random seed
And touch'd at length the surface; there expanding
Beneath the fostering influence of his eye,
Prolific seasons, light, and showers, and dew,
Aided by earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanos,
(All agents of the universal sun,)
Conspired to form, advance, enrich, and break
The level reef, till hills and dales appear'd,
And the small isle became a continent,
Whose bounds his ancestors had never traced.
Thither in time, by means inscrutable,
Plants, animals, and man himself, were brought;
And with the idolaters the gods they served.
These tales tradition told him he believed,
Though all were fables, yet they shadow'd truth;
That truth, with heart, soul, mind, and strength, he sought.
Such was the being whom I here descried,
And fix'd my earnest expectation on him;
For now or never might my hope be proved,
How near, by searching, man might find out God.
Thus, while he walk'd along that peaceful valley,
Though rapt in meditation far above
The world which met his senses, but in vain
Would charm his spirit within its magic circle,
-Still with benign and meek simplicity
He hearken'd to the prattle of a babe,
Which he was leading by the hand; but scarce
Could he restrain its eagerness to break
Loose, and run wild with joy among the bushes.
It was his grandson, now the only stay
Of his bereaved affections; all his kin
Had fall'n before him, and his youngest daughter
Bequeath'd this infant with her dying lips:
"O take this child, my father! take this child,
And bring it up for me; so may it live
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