ODE TO SUPERSTITION.* I. 1. HENCE, to the realms of Night, dire Demon, hence! Thy chain of adamant can bind That little world, the human mind, And sink its noblest powers to impotence. Wake the lion's loudest roar, Clot his shaggy mane with gore, With flashing fury bid his eye-balls shine; Meek is his savage, sullen soul, to thine! Thy touch, thy deadening touch has steeled the breast, At thy command he plants the dagger deep, At thy command exults, tho' Nature bids him weep! * Written in early youth. + The sacrifice of Iphigenia. I. 2. When, with a frown that froze the peopled earth, * Thou dartedst thy huge head from high, Night waved her banners o'er the sky, And, brooding, gave her shapeless shadows birth. Rocking on the billowy air, Ha! what withering phantoms glare! As blows the blast with many a sudden swell, At each dead pause, what shrill-toned voices yell! The sheeted spectre, rising from the tomb, Points to the murderer's stab, and shudders by; In every grove is felt a heavier gloom, That veils its genius from the vulgar eye : The spirit of the water rides the storm, And, thro' the mist, reveals the terrors of his form. I. 3. O'er solid seas, where Winter reigns, And holds each mountain-wave in chains, The fur-clad savage, ere he guides his deer Each potent spell thou bad'st him know. By thee inspired, on India's sands, Full in the sun the Bramin stands ; And, while the panting tigress hies To quench her fever in the stream, His spirit laughs in agonies, Smit by the scorchings of the noontide beam. Blooming in her bridal vest : She hurls the torch! she fans the fire! To die is to be blest: She clasps her lord to part no more, And, sighing, sinks! but sinks to soar. The Sisters sail in dusky state, t And, wrapt in clouds, in tempests tost, Weave the airy web of Fate; While the lone shepherd, near the shipless main, ‡ Sees o'er her hills advance the long-drawn funeral train. *The funeral rite of the Hindoos. + The Fates of the Northern Mythology. See MALLET'S AntiAn allusion to the Second Sight. quities. II. 1. Thou spak'st, and lo! a new creation glowed. Each unhewn mass of living stone Was clad in horrors not its own, And at its base the trembling nations bowed. Grasped the globe with iron hand. Circled with seats of bliss, the Lord of Light Springs from its parent earth, and shakes the spheres; The indignant pyramid sublimely towers, And braves the efforts of a host of years. Sweet Music breathes her soul into the wind; And bright-eyed Painting stamps the image of the mind. II. 2. Round their rude ark old Egypt's sorcerers rise! A timbrelled anthem swells the gale, And bids the God of Thunders hail; † * See that fine description of the sudden animation of the Palladium in the second book of the Æneid. + The bull, Apis. With lowings loud the captive God replies. Clouds of incense woo thy smile, Scaly monarch of the Nile! * But ah! what myriads claim the bended knee? † Proud land! what eye can trace thy mystic lore, Charmed with perennial sweets, and smiling at decay? On yon hoar summit, mildly bright || With purple ether's liquid light, High o'er the world, the white-robed Magi gaze On dazzling bursts of heavenly fire; *The Crocodile. † According to an antient proverb, it was less difficult in Egypt to find a god than a man. The Hieroglyphics. § The Catacombs. "The Persians," says Herodotus, "have no temples, altars, or statues. They sacrifice on the tops of the highest mountains." I. 131. L |