XXXIV. MEMORY. A PEN to register; a key That winds through secret wards; Are well assigned to Memory By allegoric Bards. As aptly, also, might be given. A Pencil to her hand; That, softening objects, sometimes even Outstrips the heart's demana; That smooths foregone distress, the lines Of lingering care subdues, Long-vanished happiness refines, And clothes in brighter hues : Yet, like a tool of Fancy, works Those Spectres to dilate That startle Conscience, as she lurks Within her lonely seat. O! that our lives, which flee so fast, In purity were such, That not an image of the past Should fear that pencil's touch! Retirement then might hourly look Upon a soothing scene, Age steal to his allotted nook, With heart as calm as Lakes that sleep, In frosty moonlight glistening; Or mountain Rivers, where they creep Along a channel smooth and deep, To their own far-off murmurs listening, XXXV. ODE TO DUTY. STERN Daughter of the Voice of God! To check the erring, and reprove ; When empty terrors overawe; From vain temptations dost set free; And calm'st the weary strife of frail humanity! There are who ask not if thine eye Be on them; who, in love and truth, Upon the genial sense of youth: Glad Hearts! without reproach or blot; Who do thy work, and know it not: Long may the kindly impulse last! But Thou, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast! 3 Serene will be our days and bright, And happy will our nature be, And they a blissful course may hold Even now, who, not unwisely bold, Live in the spirit of this creed; Yet find that other strength, according to their need. I, loving freedom, and untried; Too blindly have reposed my trust: The task, in smoother walks to stray; But thee I now would serve more strictly, ifI may. Through no disturbance of my soul, Or strong compunction in me wrought, But in the quietness of thought: Me this unchartered freedom tires; Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear As is the smile upon thy face: Flowers laugh before thee on their beds; And the most ancient Heavens, through Thee, are fresh and strong. To humbler functions, awful Power! The confidence of reason give; And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live! |