"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!
Heav'n to thy charge resigns the awful hour!
Oh! then, thy kingdom comes! Immortal Power!
What though cach spark of earth-born rapture fly,
The quivering lip, pale cheek, and closing eye!

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!
While Nature hears, with terror-mingled trust,
The shock that hurls her fabric to the dust;
And, like the trembling Hebrew, when he trod
The roaring waves, and call'd upon his God,

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;
Melt and dispel, ye spectre-doubts, that roll
Cimmerian darkness on the parting soul!
Fly, like the moon-ey'd herald of dismay,
Chas'd on his night-steed by the star of day!
The strife is o'er-the pangs of nature close,
And life's last rapture triumphs o'er her woes.
Hark! as the spirit eyes, with eagle gaze,
The noon of Heav'n undazzl'd by the blaze,
On heav'nly winds that waft her to the sky,
Float the sweet tones of star-born melody:

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!