"That hailed the Dawning of the Day" AURORA Publish' be Wilkie & Robinson Paternoster Row. Mar 1.1810. Oh! that for thee thy father could have died! For bloody was the deed, and rashly done, That slew my Absalom!-my son!-my son! Unfading Hope! when life's last embers burn,' When soul to soul, and dust to dust return! Bright to the soul thy seraph hands convey The morning dream of life's eternal day Then, then, the triumph and the trance begin! And all the phoenix spirit burns within! Oh! deep-enchanting prelude to repose, The dawn of bliss, the twilight of our woes! Yet half I hear the panting spirit sigh, It is a dread and awful thing to die! Mysterious worlds, untravell'd by the sun! Where Time's far wand'ring tide has never run, From your unfathom'd shades, and viewless spheres, A warning comes, unheard by other ears. 'Tis Heav'n's commanding trumpet, long and loud, Like Sinai's thunder, pealing from the cloud! With mortal terrors clouds immortal bliss, And shrieks, and hovers o'er the dark abyss. Daughter of Faith, awake, arise, illume The dread unknown, the chaos of the tomb; Wild as that hallow'd anthem sent to hail Bethlehem's shepherds in the lonely vale, When Jordan hush'd his waves, and miduight still Watch'd on the holy tow'rs of Zion hill! |